


Ice Cream and Soju

by BritHistorian



Category: Weki Meki (Band)
Genre: Blind Date, Celebrities, Closeted, Closeted Character, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dates, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Scares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25759006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritHistorian/pseuds/BritHistorian
Summary: It's Weki Meki's third anniversary - and the end of their dating ban. But two members show up at the celebration dinner without boyfriends. What does it mean that Lucy and Suyeon both show up alone? And what happens next?
Relationships: Ji Suyeon/Noh Hyojung | Lucy
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

Suyeon looked down the long table at Weki Meki and - in a shocking change - their boyfriends. They were out to celebrate their three year anniversary since their debut and, at the same time, the lifting of their dating ban. Suyeon knew that some of the members had been dating before the ban was officially lifted, but it was in a very secretive, hands-off sort of way. Under the dating ban, to be "dating" someone meant you texted them whenever you could and you saw them in person once every few months, if that. Suyeon was proud to note that almost all of her members had found someone. Ellie was dating Astro's Moonbin. Doyeon was dating one of her makeup artists from "Pop-Out Boy." Sei was dating the assistant chef at one of her favorite organic restaurants. Everyone had found someone except for Suyeon and except for Lucy, who was sitting at the opposite end of the table from Suyeon.

Suyeon knew why Lucy hadn't found anyone. Helping Lucy deal with her issues had been one of Suyeon's biggest challenges as a leader and an unnie. She had lost track of how many times she had stayed up late with Lucy, as Lucy was crying and confused. "Sometimes I think I like guys," she'd say, "and sometimes I think I like girls. I don't know if I'm straight or if I'm gay!" It was also Suyeon could do to keep from saying "Be gay! Be gay with me!" 

Yes, Ji Suyeon, leader of oldest unnie of Weki Meki, was gay. And furthermore, she had a huge crush on Lucy, the group's maknae. At first she had just thought it was a protective, sisterly feeling that she was feeling toward Lucy, but as time passed and Lucy matured, Suyeon realized that that was not the case. Sisters didn't do the things that she dreamed of doing with Lucy.

It would have been so easy, at any of dozens of nights that Lucy was trying to deal with her sexuality, for Suyeon to steer her toward being gay, and then make a move on her. But she knew that wasn't the right thing to do. She had to think about what was best for Lucy, and trying to figure out what Lucy actually wanted, not the things that she wanted for Lucy.

And that was how they came to where they were now: Celebrating their third anniversary, their dating ban lifted, and every member except Suyeon and Lucy dating somebody. Suyeon sighed and fiddled with the last of her rice. As she scooped up the last few grains and ate them, she realized what she needed to do.

"Okay, everyone, can I have your attention please?" she called out. Once she had everyone's attention. she announced. "I know you're all expecting me to lead you to phase two of the night. I know you've been wondering what bar or club I was going to lead you to, whether there would be karaoke or dancing or both or what. Well, I'm about to satisfy your curiosity."

After a longer than expected pause while Suyeon gathered her nerve for what she was about to say, Yoojung called out. "Well, don't just leave us hanging!" They all laughed at this, which broke the expectant mood and gave Suyeon just the push she needed to go through with her plan.

"There will be no phase two," she said. Over the rapidly rising tide of gasps and exclamations, she said "After three long years, our dating ban is finally lifted, and almost all of you have found someone already, so I'm guessing you'd rather spend the evening with your guy than trying to impress Leader Ji."

There was much gasping and laughter over this. Finally, Elly raised her glass and got everyone's attention, along with enough quiet that she could be heard. "Cheers to Leader Ji," she said, "for planning the perfect end of dating ban celebration! Don't get me wrong - I love all my members and I've enjoyed meeting your boyfriends, but I'm looking forward to spending some time with my boyfriend." There was general applause and rejoicing at this.

"Then, I'll be the first to leave," Suyeon said, and with that she got up and left the restaurant. She smiled at all her members on the way out, wishing them a happy night and reminding them that they still had to get back to the dorm in time to sleep before tomorrow's promotion. She didn't want to let on that what she was looking forward to was a pint of ice cream and a bottle of soju she had back in the dorm.

As she went outside, she noticed that it was starting to rain. She fished an umbrella out of her purse and opened it just as the first fat drops started hitting the ground. She was about to venture out in search of a taxi when she heard a voice behind her.

"Wait for me! I don't have an umbrella!"

Suyeon waited while Lucy got under the umbrella with her.

"Hey Suyeon-unnie!" Lucy said. "Where are you headed? Maybe we can share a cab!"

"I'm just headed back to the dorm," Suyeon said.

"Let me guess," Lucy said. "You've got a pint of ice cream and a bottle of soju. You'll spend the day tomorrow with a headache and you'll be totally stressed out about next week's weight check. I don't think so."

"That wasn't my plan," Suyeou said with a pout. 

Lucy smiled at Suyeon's reaction to being caught out. She reached out and took cupped Suyeon's face in her hand, turning the leader's head so they were looking at each other. "Just try coming out with me," Lucy said. "If at the end of an hour you still want to go back to the dorm, your ice cream and soju will still be waiting for you. What do you say?"

The look on Lucy's face was so hopeful that there was no way Suyeon could say no, even though being out with people was the last thing she wanted right then. "Fine," she said. "Where are we going?"

"That's a surprise," Lucy said. "First we need a taxi." Miraculously, she was able to flag one down inside of a minute. She gave the driver an address that Suyeon didn't recognize except that it was in Gangnam, then leaned back in the plush back seat and leaned against Suyeon.

"It was a surprise to see everyone's boyfriend, wasn't it?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon nodded. "Some of them I expected, but some of them totally took me by surprise." She looked at Lucy. 'So why didn't you have anyone?"

Lucy looked at Suyeon, an appraising expression on her face. "Probably for the same reason you didn't," she said quietly, then turned quietly to look out the front of the cab.

Suyeon wasn't sure how to take this. Was Lucy saying that she'd decided she was gay, and she recognized that Suyeon was gay? Or did she mean something else entirely? Either way, Suyeon thought she'd better play it carefully. She wasn't out to any of her members and wasn't sure if she was ready for that yet.

Just then, the cab stopped in front of a coffee shop; the sign over the door said Caffe Pascucci. Lucy paid the cab driver and they got out.

"This place has the best coffee!" Lucy gushed. They got inside without getting too wet, where Suyeon was confronted with the most extensive coffee menu she had ever seen. After she'd had a chance to look it over, Lucy asked her what she wanted. "An Americano," Suyeon said.

Lucy scoffed. "I bring you to the best coffee shop in Seoul and you want an Americano?" 

Suyeon nodded. Lucy ordered Suyeon's Americano and a cappuccino for herself, then shuffled Suyeon off to a table in the back corner of the room. After they were sitting, Lucy looked around. "Sometimes they have a jazz band here," she said, "but apparently not tonight."

Just then the waitress brought their coffees and a plate of biscotti. When she had gone, Suyeon took a sip of her coffee and looked across the table at Lucy. "It's very good coffee," she said, "but ice cream and soju still sounds pretty good."

Lucy tossed her hair. "I still think I can change your mind."

Suyeon checked the time on her phone. "Well, you've still got 50 minutes," she said.

Lucy nodded. "Did you think about what I said in the cab?" she asked.

"I've thought of pretty much nothing else for the past five minutes," Suyeon responded. "I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say, so I'm not sure how to take it."

Lucy smiled coyly. "I think you know exactly what I meant. You're just afraid you might be wrong."

"Why don't you tell me what you meant," Suyeon said, "then I won't have to wonder whether or not I was wrong?"

Lucy dipped the end of her biscotti in her coffee and took a small bite. Once she'd finished chewing, she said "Remember all the nights I came to you crying because I was uncertain of my sexuality?" Suyeon nodded and Lucy went on. "Well, let's just say I've decided what I want, now all that remains is to see if I can have it."

After waiting a long moment for Lucy to elaborate, Suyeon said "Explain" and took a sip of her coffee.

"I figured out that I liked guys _and_ girls, but I liked girls better. In fact, there was one particular girl I particularly liked, but I couldn't tell if she would be interested in me. I couldn't even tell if she was gay or straight. I decided the thing to do was to wait until our end of dating ban celebration party, see if she brought someone, and if so what sort of a someone."

"But," Suyeon broke in, "surely you had to know that, the LGBT situation in Korea being what it is, even if this girl was gay, she probably wouldn't feel comfortable being out with a girl like that. For a K-pop idol, it's still safest to stay in the closet."

"I had thought of that," Lucy said, "but I also thought that she might show up by herself or with someone that it was obvious they were just a couple of show and there was no chemistry there. That would give me a clue."

"From what I saw, everyone seemed to be pretty into their boyfriends," Suyeon said, "so it must have been a disappointing night for you."

Lucy shook her head. "No, because one member showed up without a boyfriend, and that's the girl that I'm interested in."

It took Suyeon a moment to full process what Lucy had said. "Me?" she finally asked. "You're interested in me?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

Suyeon sputtered and tripped over her words, then took a deep breath and a drink of her coffee to try to calm down. "Well, I'm over five years older than you, for starters," she began. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that you're interested in me, but I never would have imagined that you would be."

Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Why not? You're beautiful. You're kind. You're funny. You're so bloody patient with me it's ridiculous. Why wouldn't I be interested in you?" She paused for a moment. "No, don't answer that. Instead, just tell me if you think you could possible be interested in me? I mean, I know I'm a lot younger than you, and sometimes I can be immature, and you've seen me at my worst over the past three years, but do you think there might be a chance-"

Suyeon cut her off. "There's more than a chance. I'm definitely interested! I just. . . there's so much to think about. What do we do now?"

Lucy just took a sip of her coffee and smiled.


	2. Late night and the morning after

Suyeon and Lucy held hands in the cab on their ride back to the dorm. 

"Of course," Suyeon said, "we can't let the other members find out about us. Some of them would disapprove, and some of the others would approve but wouldn't be able to keep their mouth shut about it."

Lucy nodded. "I don't think Elly would like it," she said.

"But at least Elly's dislike would be strictly professional - she'd be afraid it would hurt the band if the word ever got out," Suyeon said. "I'm more worried about Rina. I think she might be a homophobe."

Lucy looked thoughtful. "I can't say if she is or she isn't. I'd never really stopped to think about our members that way."

"From some of the things that Rina's said in the past, I don't think she'd react well," Suyeon said. "Remember when Holland came out? Some of the things she said then kind of worried me."

"That was a couple of years ago. I was just starting to think I might be gay." She stopped and looked thoughtful. "I guess for you and me, the dating ban hasn't really lifted."

"It's not to late for you to go out and find yourself a boyfriend," Suyeon said in a tone that was halfway between joking and serious. But all it took was a look at her face to see how worried she was that Lucy might take that out.

Lucy scoffed. "As if. No, I know who I want to be with, and I've got her right here with me." She squeezed Suyeon's hand.

Suyeon smiled wanly at her. "I'm so happy to hear that," she said. "I was just thinking about how difficult this is going to be, and I wanted to give you an out if you wanted it. I'm so glad you didn't take it, though."

Just then the taxi pulled up in front of their dorm. Suyeon paid the driver while Lucy got out and made sure they hadn't left anything behind. 

Lucy took Suyeon's hand as they walked into the dorm. "At least we'll have the apartment to ourselves while everyone else is out."

Suyeon nodded. "Yeah, I expect everyone to be pushin the boundaries of curfew tonight. We shouldn't see another member for a couple of hours." Suyeon unlocked the door and led the way into the apartment, where she almost tripped over Yoojung, who was sitting in the middle of the floor, clutching a box of tissues as she cried.

Suyeon immediately knelt down next to Yoojung. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

Yoojung collapsed against Suyeon's shoulder. "It's Jun-Seo! He's found someone else!"

Lucy sat down next to Yoojung and put her arm around her shoulder. "What? Are you sure? He seemed so into you!"

"That's what I thought, too," Yoojung said as she started crying again. "But tonight he got a text from her while we were out!"

"He didn't!" Suyeon looked shocked.

Yoojung nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He said he'd been thinking about this for a while. He'd met a woman who worked in the same office as he does and he started seeing her when he couldn't be with me. Finally tonight he said he couldn't take it anymore - that the stresses of dating someone in our industry were something he couldn't deal with." She collapsed in another paroxysm of sobbing. When she finally could speak again, she looked up at Suyeon. "Earlier tonight I was feeling sorry for you, because you didn't have anyone, but now I'm thinking you're the lucky one!" She sniffled. "I'm going to get a shower and go to bed." She got up and made her way to the bathroom.

Lucy looked at Suyeon as they gathered up the storm of tissues Yoojung had left all over the kitchen floor. "So much for having the apartment to ourselves," she said quietly.

Suyeon quietly shushed her. She waited until she heard the water start running in the shower. "I've still got the soju and ice cream - we could have a little party while we watch TV."

"What about Yoojung?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon smiled. "You know Yoojung - she'll fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, and it'd be next to impossible to wake her up before morning."

Lucy went to get some ice cream and some spoons from the kitchen, when Suyeon went to get the bottle of soju from her locker. By the time they had everything ready, Jooyung was out of the shower; she stopped to give them both hugs on the way to bed.

"I'm hoping things seem better in the morning," Yoojung said.

Suyeon agreed that they probably would, then followed Yoojung to her bed and tucked her in. "You're going to be fine," she said. "It sounds like Jun-Seo doesn't deserve you anyway."

Joojung smiled weakly up at Suyeon. "You're so good to all of our members," she said. "I hope you find someone soon."

"Oh, I think I will," Suyeon said with a smile. "See you in the morning!" 

Suyeon closed the bedroom door on the way out and rejoined Lucy on the couch in front of the TV. "Any idea what you want to watch?" she asked.

"Or maybe what I want to pretend to watch while we make out on the couch?" Lucy responded.

Suyeon blushed. "Or that. I just didn't want to go faster than what you were ready for."

"Oh, I'm ready for anything," Lucy said, smiling coyly.

"We'll see about that," Suyeon said. She opened the bottle of soju, took a swig, and passed the bottle of Lucy, who took a drink and passed it back.

"I know!" Suyeon said, a mischievous glint to her eyes. "Have you ever seen Lily Fever?"

Lucy shrugged. "No. Should I have?"

Suyeon laughed. "I think it's a requirement, if you're going to be a Korean lesbian."

"Then let's watch it!" Luchy said, joining in Suyeon's laughter.

Suyeon glanced at the clock. "We won't have time to watch the whole thing tonight, but we can probably watch two episodes before the others start getting back." She started the show, then leaned back on the couch, holding out her arm for Lucy to cuddle up next to her.

Lucy got comfortable next to Suyeon. She opened up the ice cream, and handed Suyeon the spoon. "If we're going to be cuddled up like this, you'll have to feed us both," she said with a grin.

"Okay," Suyeon said. "I just hope you like chocolate mint."

"Oh, I'm team chocomint all the way," Lucy said with a smile. She held her mouth open for Suyeon to feed her.

It took the first episode for them to finish the ice cream and soju, and then ten minutes into the second episode for them to lose interest in the show in favor of kissing and caressing each other. After a while, though, Suyeon noticed that Lucy wasn't kissing her back. She pulled away to look Lucy in the face, only to discover that Lucy had fallen asleep. "Aw," Suyeon said. "I guess she's not used to that much soju. We'll have to be careful in the future." She laid Lucy down on the couch and covered her with a throw, then cleaned up their mess. She sat down on the couch and draped her arm over Lucy, who scooted around in her sleep until her head was resting in Suyeon's lap.

Suyeon sat very still so as not to disturb Lucy's sleep and watched some more of the show. She turned the sound way down and was basking in the glow from the television when sleep overtook her.

* * *

When Suyeon woke up the next morning, her neck was sore from having flopped back on the couch. She looked around, a smile crossing her lips when she remembered what had happened the night before. She looked down and saw that Lucy was still asleep in her lap. She heard someone coming up behind her. Twisting around as well as she was able, she saw that it was Sei. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Sei said. "You were asleep with the TV on when I came home. I figured it was better to let you sleep where you were rather than trying to wake you up and get you into your bed."

Suyeon nodded as she yawned and stretched. "That was probably a good idea," she said. "So did you have a good night last night?"

Sei nodded. "Hell yeah! After we left the restaurant, Do-Hyun and I went to a nightclub where his brother is the head bouncer and we danced until almost curfew. I just barely made it in on time. We-"

Whatever Sei was about to say was cut off by a shriek from the direction of the bathroom. Doyeon came out of the bathroom, already yelling into her phone. "Min-Soo, you bastard! I told you I had promotions today and you gave me a hickey anyway! . . . Well? How the hell do I cover it up? . . . Okay, yeah, I've got those. . . It'd better work, that's all I'm saying. . . Talk to you later. Love you!" She turned and headed back into the bathroom.

"Apparently there are advantages to dating a makeup artist," Suyeon said, and she and Sei collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Just then Lucy woke up and sat up. "I fell asleep on the couch?"

Sei laughed. 'She guessed it in one!"

"I guess I was tireder than I thought from all the excitement yesterday." She stretched and ran her hands through her hair. "Suyeon and I were watching a drama and I guess I fell asleep." She looked at Suyeon. "Maybe we can watch the show some more another time?"

"Sure," Suyeon said with a smile. "I've already seen it like a dozen times, but getting to see your reactions, it's like it's a new show."

"What show?" Sei asked.

"Lily Fever," Lucy told her. 

Sei looked puzzled. "I think I've heard of that one, but I've never seen it."

"It's one of my favorite shows," Suyeon said, "and Lucy and I had some time last night, so we started watching it." She reached out to brush a stray strand of Lucy's hair behind her ear. 

Just then Yoojung came skipping out of the bedroom. "You look like you're feeling a lot better," Lucy said to her.

"I really am," she said with a big grin. "Look!" She held out her phone, which was displaying a text from Jun-Seo: "I'm sorry. I screwed up. Can we try again?"

Suyeon's eyes got huge. "You're not going to get back together with him! Are you?"

"I already did," Yoojung said. She held up her hands to fend off the protests she was sure were coming from Suyeon and Lucy. "I told him he gets one chance to screw up like this, and he just used his."

"Wait," Sei said. "How broke up with you last night? And you're taking him back this morning?"

Yoojung nodded. "He just got overwhelmed by the uproar around our third anniversary. You forget, he's just an ordinary guy, not used to all the publicity and stuff."

"But what about the other woman who texted him?" Lucy asked.

Sei's jaw dropped. "He had another woman? And you're taking him back?"

As Sei was opening her mouth to fuss at Yoojung some more, Elly came out of the bedroom. "Save your breath, Sei," she said. "I've already been over this with her. She's just going to have to find out the hard way that he's a dog."

"He is not!" Yoojung protested. "He said he loves me."

"As fascinating as all this is," Suyeon said, "we'll have to wait and analyze Yoojung's love life later. Right now, we've got to get ready for the day's promotions before Manager-nim gets here!"


	3. Just another day at work

Their first promotion of the day was an appearance on a radio show. As they were riding in the van on the way there, Suyeon read out the day's schedule. 

"Okay, this morning we're on the radio with Kim Min-Ji, then a short break for lunch, then this afternoon we've got dance practice, then a break for dinner, then tonight we're on Mnet. After we get back to the dorm, Elly's supposed to do a V-live for the Ki-ling."

"Oh, I'm not going to be able to go to dance practice this afternoon," Doyeon said.

"Why not?" Suyeon asked.

"I've got an audition this afternoon," Doyeon replied. 

Suyeon took a deep breath and counted to ten while she tried to calm down. "Weren't you just on a drama? Don't you take Weki Meki seriously?"

"Of course I take Weki Meki seriously," Doyeon countered, "but I've got to auditions if I'm going to get parts. Weki Meki is just part of my career - I can still act for years after Weki Meki breaks up."

"Weki Meki's going to break up a lot sooner if we're not serious about it," Suyeon snapped.

"I am serious - whenever I'm at a practice, I work twice as hard so I can learn everything faster." Doyeon put in her earbuds. "I think it just bothers you that I've got things going on outside of Weki Meki." And with that, she conspicuously turned on her music, then turned and stared out the window.

Suyeon closed her eyes and counted to ten again, desperately trying to calm down before they got to the radio station. 

"Doyeon always does work hard when she's in practice. It shouldn't matter if she misses some of the practices," Yoojung said.

Suyeon snorted in exasperation as she turned to face Yoojung. "Practices aren't just about learning the songs or the choreos," she said. "They're also how we build esprit de corps. All the hours we've spent together in the practice room have welded us into a unit."

"If we're not a unit after three years, I don't know when we would be. I think you're making a big deal over nothing," Yoojung said.

Suyeon was on the verge of losing her temper. "I know you and Doyeon have a special bond from your time in I.O.I, but it really doesn't help things when you come to her defense every time she and I have a disagreement. There are already a lot of fans who think of Weki Meki as 'Doyeon, Yoojung, and friends.' We don't need to act like it."

Yoojung held up her hands. "I'm not trying to split up the group," she said, "I just think you're being unfair. Doyeon has the most going on outside of Weki Meki because she hustles for it. Whenever she has spare time, she's practicing lines or trying to find new shows to audition for or something like that. But just last week she turned down a part in a new drama because the producers couldn't guarantee her that filming wouldn't interfere with her Weki Meki promotion activities."

Lua leaned forward, interposing herself between Suyeon and Yoojung. "If we're going to talk more about that - and I really wish we wouldn't - it needs to wait for the end of the day, after all the promotions. Right now we're got to be happy and smiling for the Ki-lings." She hit Suyeon and Yoojung with her brightest smile.

Suyeon turned away from Yoojung and threw herself back in her seat. 

Lucy turned her seat around so she was facing Yoojung. She reached out and took Suyeon's hand. "It'll be okay," she said quietly. "Kim Min-ji's show is always one of our favorite radio shows to be on - she always knows how to make the interviews fun."

Suyeon clasped Lucy's hand. She nodded slightly and attempted to stop scowling.

"That's more like it!" Lucy said. "Do you have a smile for me? Even a little one? Huh? A smile for Lucy?"

Suyeon couldn't resist this - she smiled at Lucy. "You're right," she said. "I've got to stop letting things get to me."

"That's it," Lucy said. She quickly turned and glanced out the van's windshield. "You're going to need that smile because it looks like there are a lot of Ki-Lings waiting for us."

Suyeon pushed her issues with Doyeon to the back of her mind. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out. When she opened her eye, she smiled at Lucy. "Thanks," she said. "I needed that."

Just then the van pulled to a stop outside the radio station. "Everyone mask up and remember to practice social distancing," Manager-nim said said as she tied on her mask.

The members put on their masks and got out of the van. The Ki-Lings were lining both sides of the sidewalk, with six feet of space between them, all wearing masks. As the members walked the gauntlet of their fans, they waved and called out greetings. Once of the fans held out a copy of 1st Look and a Sharpie, hoping to get some autographs.

"I'm so sorry," Suyeon said. "We're not allowed to sign anything. Got to social distance, you know? But thank you for coming out to see us!"

Ten feet more and Suyeon joined the rest of her members inside the radio station. As soon as she was inside, the producer started their briefing. "Okay, Min-ji has to do traffic and weather, then we've got a commercial break, so we've got just under 4 minutes to get you all to your places follow me!" And with that, he turned and led the way to the studio.

They were about 20 minutes into the interview with Min-Ji asked the questions that Suyeon was sure were most on the fans' minds. "Is it true," she asked, "that since it's your third anniversary, your dating ban has now been lifted?"

Suyeon leaned toward her microphone. "That's true."

"And is it true to Elly's dating Astro's Moonbin?"

Elly spoke up. "That is also true. And he's just as much a gentleman in real life as he is on TV. Hi sweetie!"

Min-Ji laughed before she went on. "And is it true that Suyeon is dating Stray Kids' Bang Chan?"

Before Suyeon had a chance to answer, Lua leaned up to her microphone. "That one's false. In fact, Suyeon is one of only two Weki Meki members who's not dating anyone right now."

"Two?" Min-ji asked in surprise. "Who's the other one?"

Lucy raised her hand, then remembered they were on radio and no one could see her and said "It's me. I'm so busy with school and Weki Meki, I don't have time for a boyfriend."

"You heard it here first," Min-Ji said. "Suyeon and Lucy are the two members of Weki Meki who aren't dating anybody. When we come back from these commercials, we'll find out what kind of man each prefers, so stay tuned - you might be Mr. Right for one of them."

* * *

Weki Meki were just finishing dance practice when Doyeon returned from her audition.

"How'd it go?" Rina asked.

Doyeon shook her head. "I didn't get the part. No matter what I did today, I couldn't say the lines the way the director wanted."

All the others - even Suyeon - offered their condolences on her missing out on this part and their hopes that she'd get the next one. As the members went to grab their things prior to going back to the dorm for dinner, Doyeon got Suyeon's attention. "Suyeon, can I talk to you for a second?"

Suyeon walked over and stood close to Doyeon. "Sure. What's up?"

'I just wanted to apologize for this morning," Doyeon said. "I was nervous about this audition, so when you brought up your concerns, I snapped at you."

Suyeon nodded. "I'm sorry too. It's just . . . you have been going to a lot of auditions and filmings lately, and I was worried. "Weki Meki is the eight of us. I don't know what the rest of us would do if you left. We're supposed to be an OT8, not an OT7."

Doyeon reached out and hugged Suyeon. "Well, you don't have to worry about that. I'm not going anywhere."

Suyeon looked up at Doyeon. "I hope that's true. I really do." She reached out and returned Doyeon's hug.

Sei came up behind Suyeon and grabed both of her unnies up in a double hug. "I'm so glad you two aren't fighting anymore!"

Just then Manager-Nim showed up at the practice room door. "Come on everyone! Time to go grab some dinner so you can get ready for Mnet."

The members filed out after the manager. "When I passed the cafeteria a few minutes ago, it smelled really good," Doyeon said.

"As long as it's not a sweet potato, I'm happy," Sei said. A sweet potato was what they got for dinner if they failed their weigh-in.

"Like you ever have to eat sweet potato," Yoojung said. "You've failed weigh-in like once since we debuted."

"And once was enough," Sei said with a shudder. "I know sweet potatoes are good for you, but when it's all you get to eat. . ."

Fortunately dinner was kimchi sujebi, which was one of the cafeteria's better dishes, and they are started eating as soon as they sat down. After a few minutes, Suyeon looked down the table and saw that everyone's plate was empty. "Okay everyone, time to go shower and get dressed for Mnet!" she called out.

Once they were back in their apartment, they had just enough time to shower and get dressed before Suyeon's phone rang with Manager-Nim's special ringtone.

"Okay everyone! The van's downstairs! We've got to go!" Suyeon called out after she hung up.

This announcement was followed by a mad scramble to find shoes and earrings and anything else they might have forgotten and get ready to go. Even with all the scrambling, it only took them a couple of minutes to get out the door and down to the van.

* * *

After the filming for Mnet was over (Weki Meki didn't win, but they hadn't really expected to), they got back in the van for the ride back to the dorm. Suyeon and Lucy got in the van first so they could sit side by side in the back seat.

"I love looking at the city at night," Lucy said as she surreptitiously reached over and took Suyeon's hand. "I hope when we move out of the dorm, I'm able to get an apartment in one of the high-rises so I could see the city like that every night."

"I'll just be happy to have a place without Lua's socks scattered everywhere," Suyeon said. "How does she manage to go through so many socks?"

They both laughed at this.

"So tell me more about this dream apartment," Suyeon said, leaning against Lucy and looking out the window.

"It would have have a bigger kitchen than our dorm apartment does, because I'm going to learn to cook."

"You can cook!" Suyeon protested. "You cook better than I do!"

Lucy shook her head. "Tteokbokki doesn't count. And besides, almost anyone can cook better than you do."

Suyeon gasped. "You did not!"

Lucy laughed. "I did!"

"It's not my fault," Suyeon said, acting like she was sulking, "I get distracted and forget that I'm cooking something, and by the time I remember, I've burned it."

"Yeah, we've got to work on that," Lucy said. "Anyway, back to the apartment, it'd have a big TV for watching dramas, and a big picture window so I can look out at the city, and a big open area in the floor so I can dance."

"Sounds good," Suyeon said quietly, "but you're forgetting one thing. . ." She looked pathetically up at Lucy and batted her eyelashes.

"Of course you'd be there, you silly thing," Lucy said with a laugh. "I didn't think that even needed to be mentioned."

Just then the van passed through a tunnel. Lucy took advantage of the darkness to quickly lean down and kiss Suyeon. She was pretty sure no one had seen or heard her. She hoped so, anyway.


	4. A very odd afternoon

Suyeon paced around the living room with Sei trailing along behind her. Finally she stopped short and spun around to face Sei. "I don't care how nice a guy he is, I'm not interested in going out with your boyfriend's brother!" Sei just stood there quietly, nervously chewing her lower lip. "What?" Suyeon asked. "What aren't you telling me?"

Sei took half a step back and cringed a little bit. "I. . . um. . . well. . ."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "Just tell me!"

Sei took another half step back. "I kind of already told Do-Hyun you'd do it" she said, as if she had to get the words out before she lost her courage.

"You what?" Suyeon's eyes were huge.

"Well, I felt bad about you being all alone on our anniversary night, and Do-Hyun said his brother wasn't dating anyone - it seemed like a perfect arrangement!" Sei clasped her hands together and gave an excited little hop. "And if someday I marry Do-Hyun and you marry his brother, we'll be sisters!"

Suyeon put her hand to her forehead, as if this whole conversation was giving her a headache. "Not that I object to the idea of being sisters with you, but don't you think you're rushing things a little bit? I mean, I've never even met Do-Hyun's brother. It don't know anything about him except that he is Do-Hyun's brother. I don't even know his name!"

"It's Hyun-Woo," Sei said with a decisive nod.

"That's not the point!" Suyeon yelled. "The point is that you've fixed me up a blind date without asking me about it first!"

Lua walked past just in time to hear this. "Wait, Sei? You fixed Suyeon up on a blind date?"

Sei nodded. "I've arranged for her to go out with Do-Hyun's brother, Hyun-Woo."

Lua's face lit up with a huge grin. "That's great! Do-Hyun's such a great guy. His brother is probably just as good."

"He is," Sei said, "but Suyeon's saying she won't go."

Lua threw up her hands. "What?"

"I know, right?" Sei said. "I fix her up with a great guy and all she can say is no!"

Lua stepped forward and grabbed Suyeon by the shoulders. "You've got to go on this date, Suyeon. Even if this guy isn't Mr. Right, maybe it'll break your long dry spell."

"I'm not having a long dry spell!" Suyeon said fiercely. "I just haven't met a guy I'm interested in dating!"

Lau gently shook Suyeon. "And how are you going to meet him if you won't take a chance?"

"I just. . . I. . . " Suyeon visibly deflated. "There's no way I'm getting out of this conversation without agreeing to a date, is there?"

Sei and Lua both shook their heads.

Suyeon sighed dramatically. "Fine! But if I'm going to do this, I've got some conditions."

Sei nodded. "Sure, Suyeon. Like what?"

Suyeon thought for a moment, then started counting things off on her fingers. "One: It's a daytime date - coffee or something. Two: It's not a double date with you and Do-Hyun. And three: If after this date I decide I don't want to go out with him again, you guys back off."

Sei nodded. "Sure thing, Suyeon. We can do that. I'll arrange for coffee this Saturday afternoon."

Suyeon turned to leave the room. Sei already had her phone out calling Do-Hyun.

* * *

"You're what?" Lucy yelled at Suyeon. As soon as she realized how loud she had been, she looked around the park to see if anyone had noticed her. Fortunately, no one had.

"I'm going out for coffee with Sei's boyfriend's brother this Saturday afternoon," Suyeon said quietly. She held up her hand to forestall the round of protestations she was sure were coming. "It's not what I would have chosen either, but agreeing to this was the only way to get Sei and Lua off my back. At least I was able to get them to agree that if I don't want to go out with him again, I don't have to."

"But you were supposed to spend Saturday afternoon with me!" Lucy protested.

Suyeon laid her hand on Lucy's arm. "And I will," she said, "except for the hour I have to spend going on this date so we can stay in the closet to our members."

'Well, okay, I guess," Lucy said with a pout. "But what if you end up liking him?"

Suyeon grabbed Lucy and turned her to face her. "Look, over the course of my life I've met hundreds of guys, maybe thousands, I didn't count. And I haven't liked any of them. This may be somewhat hard for you to understand, because you're not wired the same way, but I am not at all interested in dating guys. Guys do nothing for me. Period. End of discussion."

"You're right," Lucy said, shaking her head. "I can't imagine being able to just write off half the people in the world without even meeting them. But if you say that's it works for you, I'll trust you. I just. . ."

Suyeon noticed a tear welling up in Lucy's eye and hurried to wipe it away. "It'll be fine," she said. "I'll go have coffee with him, then come back to you. If it helps, think of it as if I'm going to a business meeting, because that's how unromantic this whole thing is to me."

Lucy nodded.

Suyeon went on. "Unfortunately, between now and Saturday I have to display at least a minimal level of interest in this date so that Sei and Lua don't get suspicious."

Lucy nodded again. "I'll pretend to be excited for you."

Suyeon hugged her. "And in the meantime, you can be grateful they haven't found someone for you."

Lucy laughed and took Suyeon's hand as they started down the path again. "Yeah, one unwanted blind date is plenty for this week."

"Exactly," Suyeon said, smiling over at her.

* * *

Saturday afternoon finally arrived. Sei had set up everything - all Suyeon had to do was go to the coffee shop and wait for Hyun-Woo to find her.

"But how will he recognize me?" Suyeon asked.

Sei reached out and tapped Suyeon on the forehead. "Hello? You're famous. Did you forget?"

Suyeon laughed weakly. "Yeah, I guess I did - I'm just nervous about this whole thing. How do I look?"

Sei looked Suyeon up and down. She was wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers. "Like a college student who's going to a study group. Come on, Suyeon - if you won't change into a better outfit, at least let me kick your makeup up a notch."

"I don't know," Suyeon said. "Let's see what Lucy thinks." She called out to Lucy, who was sitting on the other side of the room flipping through a magazine. "Hey Lucy! How do I look for my coffee date?"

"You look really cute," Lucy said with a smile.

"But she should let me fancy up her makeup, shouldn't she?" Sei asked. 

Lucy looked at Suyeon, who was throwing panicked looks over Sei's shoulder, and shook her head. "No, I think the understated look is a good thing for this. Save the fancy makeup for if they go out at night."

Sei looked back at Suyeon, who was nodding in agreement with Lucy. "Fine," she said with a sigh, "but don't blame me if he doesn't like the way you look."

"If he doesn't like they way I look, then he's not the guy for me," Suyeon said.

"But you could at least try a little bit harder with your makeup," Sei protested. "Maybe red lipstick? And a smoky eye?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Nope, I'm going just like this." Just then an alarm sounded on her phone. "And I'm going right now. I want to get there before he does."

"Okay," Sei said. "Well, good luck!"

Suyeon waved good-bye to Sei and Lucy and headed out. She took the elevator down to the ground floor and left their dorm. She'd insisted on a coffee shop close to their dorm, giving as a reason that she wanted to see that he was willing to put the effort into seeing her. She walked a couple of blocks down the street, then took a left and went into a coffee shop in the middle of the block. She ordered an Americano and looked around the shop while waiting for the barista to make it. There weren't many people in the shop, and none of them were guys around her age, so she knew she'd accomplished her goal of getting there before Hyun-Woo. 

She collected her coffee and chose a seat at a table with a view of the front door. Over the next few minutes, several came into the shop, ordered coffee and left. Just when she thought she'd lucked out and he'd stood her up, she saw Hyun-Woo walk in the door. Even if she hadn't seen pictures of him, she would have recognized him right away: He looked like a taller, more muscular version of Do-Hyun. He waved at her, then went to the counter and ordered his coffee before joining her at her table.

"Ji Suyeon?" he asked.

"That's me," she confirmed with a smile.

Just then, the barista called his name to come pick up his coffee.

"I'll be right back," he said.

"I'll be right here!" she responded.

Suyeon waited for him to get his coffee and make his way back to their table, the butterflies in her stomach growing worse. She should never have agreed to this. She should have stuck to her guns and refused to come. But she was here now, and she had to make the best of it. By this time he was back and had chosen the seat across the table from her.

To her surprise, Suyeon found Hyun-Woo very easy to talk to. He asked her intelligent questions, and when she asked him a question, he took a moment and thought seriously before answering. If she ever could fall for a guy, this was the type of guy she could fall for.

About half an hour into their conversation, Hyun-Woo excused himself to use the restroom. Suyeon noticed that he left his phone behind on the table when he went. She was easily able to resist the temptation to pick it up and start going through it, but she couldn't help but look when he got three phone calls back-to-back, all from the same guy. When Hyun-Woo returned, she told him that his phone had rung while he was gone. He picked up the phone, saw who it was, and all the color drained from his face.

"Excuse me," he said with a bow, "I have to take this call." He went to the back of the shop, while Suyeon waited. In just a few minutes, he returned. his mood noticeably subdued.

"Is everything all right?" Suyeon asked.

He took a drink of his coffee, then looked around the shop, before leaning toward her and saying "I'm sorry, Suyeon. I just can't do this anymore."

"Can't do what anymore?" she asked, surprised.

He sat silently for a moment. Just when she was about to say something, he started to speak. "I don't know why, but I feel like I can trust you: I'm gay. That was my boyfriend who called. I'm still in the closet to my family. I only agreed to this date because it was the only way I could get Do-Hyun to leave me alone. I was relieved when you insisted on an afternoon date. I was planning to make up some excuse why I couldn't go out with you, then enjoy the peace that would come from him feeling at least he had tried."

Suyeon burst out laughing. Hyun-Woo looked hurt, but before he could say anything, Suyeon started to talk. "That's awesome!" she said.

His facial expression went from injury to confusion.

Suyeon leaned closer to him and quietly said "I'm gay too. I only agreed to this date because it was the only way to get Sei off my back."

They both laughed. Suddenly, Suyeon get a devious look on her face. "I've got an idea," she said.

* * *

"What do you mean you're going out with Hyun-Woo again next weekend?" Lucy asked, her face rapidly turning red with anger.

"If you'll stop biting my head off and listen for just a second, I'll explain everything," Suyeon said calmly. "Next weekend, Hyun-Woo and I are going on a double date with you and his boyfriend."

Lucy thought this over for a second, then a smile spread over her face as she recognized what it meant. "So they'll help us stay in the closet and we'll help them stay in the closet?"

"That's right," Suyeon said. "Once all four of us are together, no one will notice if we all switch up."

Lucy grabbed Suyeon in a hug that lifted her off the ground. Several of the people around them in the bookshop looked over to see what the fuss was. "That's great!" Lucy said quietly as she put Suyeon down.

"This doesn't solve all of our problems," Suyeon said, "but it does go a long way toward solving one big problem: So long as we're apparently happily dating someone, our members will have less incentive to try to fix us up with someone."


	5. Figuring Things Out

"So it went well yesterday?" Sei asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"I'd say so," Suyeon said. "I'm going to see him again next weekend."

Sei started bouncing up and down. "That's great! I'm so excited!"

Suyeon nodded. "Sunday afternoon we're going to the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art."

Sei got a confused look on her face. "Really? On purpose?"

Siuyeon nodded. "Hyun-Woo wants to be a painter. He's really passionate about art."

"Oh," Sei said quietly. "That makes sense then."

"And I've got more good news," Suyeon added, a smile lighting up her face.

"Really?" Sei started bouncing up and down. "Good news? Tell me! Tell me!"

"Our date next weekend is going to be a double date - the other couple will be Hyun-Woo's friend Min-Kyu and his date, Lucy." Suyeon paused to see how Sei reacted to this news.

Sei's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Our Lucy? Weki Meki Lucy? Going out with a guy none of us have ever met? Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, she just turned 18."

Suyeon nodded. "Hyun-Woo turned out to be a great guy, so I figured any of his friends would be okay. Besides, I'll be there if she gets into trouble."

Sei looked dubious. "Well. . . okay, I guess. . . but don't let anything happen to her."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "Like I'd let anything happen to any of our members."

"I know," Sei said, "but Lucy's the maknae. We've all got to watch out for her."

"She'll be fine," Suyeon said. "Besides, what can possibly happen to her in an art museum?"

'I don't know," Sei admitted. "I just want to be sure it doesn't happen."

"Well, like I said, I'll be there the whole time. She'll be fine."

Just then Lucy burst into the apartment. "Sei!" she called out, "did you hear? Suyeon found me a date for next weekend! If all goes well, I won't be the only one without a boyfriend!"

"Ummm. . . yeah" Sei said. "Lucy, do you even know anything about this guy?"

Lucy nodded. "He works at the same nightclub as Suyeon's guy, except he's a bartender instead of a bouncer. During the day he's going to art school. And look -" she held her phone out to Sei- "look how handsome he is!"

Suyeon watched Lucy putting on this act for Sei and wished that Lucy could be telling the truth instead. "Maybe someday," she thought, "but not today." 

Sei looked from Suyeon to Lucy and back again. "Looks like you two have everything worked out. Congratulations! What time are they picking you up Sunday? Will we get to meet them?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Their apartment is just as far from the museum as our dorm is, but from a different direction, so we're just going to meet them at the museum."

"That makes sense," Sei said, looking not entirely pacified. She grabbed Lucy's arm. "Come on, let's go practice your makeup for the big day."

As Sei pulled Lucy toward the vanity, Lucy looked over her shoulder at Suyeon, who couldn't do anything but shrug.

* * *

Later that evening, Lucy and Suyeon were sitting on Lucy's bed talking.

"Do I even have a face left?" Lucy asked, rubbing her cheeks. "Sei tried and removed so many products on me, it's a miracle I've got any skin left at all."

Suyeon laughed quietly. "It's just her way of showing she cares," she said. "She's really worried about you going on this date - she made me promise to be ready to protect you if something happened."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Like anything's going to happen in an art museum on a Sunday afternoon."

"Well," Suyeon said, "Sei's all kinds of worried about you. You know, you're the maknae and she apparently thinks of you as a little sister."

"Well," Lucy said, leaning so close that Suyeon could feel her breath on her face, "I'm just glad you don't think of me as a little sister." She smiled deviously and started leaning ever closer.

Just then the door opened and Doyeon came in. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Oh. . . ummm. . . ." Lucy sputtered.

Thinking quickly, Suyeon slapped her hand over her right eye. "I felt like I had an eyelash in my eye. Lucy was trying to see if she could get it out."

Doyeon grabbed Suyeon's wrist and pulled her hand away from her eye. "Let me have a look," she said. She pulled Suyeon's upper eyelid up, then her lower eyelid down, looking at her eye from all angles. "I don't see anything," she said. "Lucy must have gotten it out." She let go of Suyeon's wrist, got something out of her locker, and left the room.

As soon as Doyeon as gone, Lucy's eyes got huge. "That was close!"

Suyeon nodded. "Too close! We've got to be more careful."

"What can we do that we're not already doing?" Lucy asked with a pout. 

"I don't know," Suyeon said. "All I know is, we've got to be careful. All it takes is getting caught once and we're busted."

Lucy crossed her arms and started to sulk. "I wish we didn't have to hide. I want to be able to tell everyone that you're my girlfriend."

Suyeon reached out and took Lucy's hand. "I know you do. I feel the same way. But we can't right now."

Lucy suddenly perked up. "I know. Instead of eating dinner with all the members, let's go out for tacos."

Suyeon thought for a moment. "That could work. Let's do it!"

They left the bedroom and went into the common room. "Yoojung," Suyeon called out, "don't bother cooking for me or Lucy. We're going out for tacos."

Rina perked up from the celebrity gossip magazine she was reading. "Tacos! That sounds good! I want to come with you."

Suyeon looked at Lucy and shrugged. "Get your purse," she said. "We want to get there early before the restaurant's too crowded."

* * *

While they were waiting for their tacos, Rina was telling Lucy and Suyeon about all the celebrity gossip she had read that day. ". . . and they think that Jeon Somi might be gay! Can you imagine that?" She shuddered theatrically. "That'd be so gross."

"What would be wrong with it?" Lucy asked. "I mean, it's not like she's trying to be gay with you."

Rina shook her head. "No, it's just not right. A couple should be a guy and a girl. Anything else is just wrong."

Just then the waitress brought their food, which gave Suyeon a moment to think.

"You know," Suyeon said after taking her first bite of her taco, "something like five to ten percent of everybody is gay. For all we know someone in Weki Meki could be gay."

Rina shook her head, swallowed hastily, and said "No way, all of us have boyfriends."

"Well," Suyeon said, "maybe one of us is bisexual."

"Or," Lucy added, "one of us just has a boyfriend to pretent to be straight."

Rina shook her head. "No way. If one of us was gay, I would know."

"Would you?" Suyeon asked innocently.

"Oh yeah," Rina said with a nod. "You can always tell."

Lucy shook her head. "I don't think you can. If you could, then no one could ever be in the closet and it'd be a surprise when they came out."

As Rina was pondering this, Suyeon said "You know, Doyeon was awfully close to Somi when they were in I.O.I. Maybe she's just pretending to date Min-Soo. . ."

"No way," Rina said definitively. "If Doyeon was gay, we'd be able to tell."

"What would Min-Soo get out of it?" Lucy asked Suyeon with a wink.

"Well," Suyeon said, "he'd still get to tell people he's going out with the famous and beautiful Kim Doyeon, and now there's photographic evidence to prove it. Even if he's not getting into her pants, he's still gotta get a big ego boost from that."

Rina took another bite of her taco and chewed slowly, listening to what Suyeon was saying.

"And if they ever do break up," Suyeon went on, "I bet a lot of girls would line up for the chance to heal his broken heart after Kim Doyeon was so cruel to him. . ."

Rina stopped chewing, apparently lost in though, then swallowed slowly. "Guys, I'm starting to think you could be right. It certainly would explain a lot of little things. But what do we do about it?"

"Nothing," Suyeon said with a shrug.

"But. . ." Rina protested, "if she's being gay in Weki Meki. . . what if the Ki-Lings find out?"

Suyeon shrugged again. "What if they do? I mean, did you ever read the fanfiction they write about us?"

Rina shook her head.

"Half of them apparently already think we're all boning each other anyway," Suyeon said matter-of-factly.

Rina shuddered.

"And do you know how many female Ki-Lings write to Doyeon every week, asking her to be their girlfriend?" Lucy asked.

Rina shook her head.

"Tons," Lucy said, which Suyeon nodded in agreement.

"Why don't I get get fanmail like this?" Rina asked.

Suyeon shrugged. "Who know? Maybe you just don't ping their gaydar."

Rina considered this as they finished eating their tacos. As they left the restaurant, she asked "What if Doyeon really is gay?"

"Then I hope she finds a girl who makes her happy," Suyeon said. "Unless she's trying to be gay with us, it's none of our business."

Rina shook her head, sure that there was something she wasn't seeing. "I just don't think it's right," she said to herself.

* * *

Yoojung came out of the bathroom to find Doyeon laughing and Rina looking discomfitted. "What's so funny?" she asked.

It took Doyeon a while to get her laughter under control. Finally, she was able to gasp out "Rina thinks I'm gay!"

Yoojung looked confused at this. "Then how does she explain Min-Soo?" she asked.

"She thinks he's my pretend boyfriend," Doyeon said, between peals of laughter, "and really I'm being gay with Jeon Somi!"

Yoojung looked even more confused. "Wait. . . what? Somi's gay now?"

"Apparently," Doyeon said, finally managing to get her laughter under control. "It was in one of the gossip rags this week."

Yoojung rolled her eyes. "You really believe those magazines, Rina? I thought you were just reading them to laugh at them like we do!"

Rina shook her head. "But. . . no. . . it all makes sense! Jeon Somi's hella gay and she and Doyeon hooked up when they were in I.O.I!"

"Then how do you explain Min-Soo?" Doyeon asked.

"He's just your pretend boyfriend!" Rina said. "So people won't know you're gay."

Doyeon chuckled. "I'm sure Min-Soo would be surprised to hear that."

"But. . ." Rina protested. "But Suyeon said. . . and Lucy said. . . and. . . it all makes sense!" She narrowed her eyes and looked at Doyeon. "I'm going to find proof that you're gay, then everyone will see that I'm not just making it up!"

Yoojung put her arm around Rina's shoulders and started leading her toward the bedroom. "Rina, sweetie, why don't you just go to sleep and maybe in the morning you'll see things more clearly. If someone in Weki Meki was gay, don't you think we'd know after three years of living in this tiny apartment?"

"Probably," Rina admitted. "It just all seemed so plausible when Suyeon and Lucy said it."

Yoojung laughed. "That explains it then," she said. "Suyeon and Lucy know how you feel about gay people, so they were just taking advantage of this chance to mess with you a little bit.

"But. . . " Rina protested. "What if someone in Weki Meki really is gay?"

"Well," Yoojung said, "if they are, they never hit on me, so I'm kind of upset with them."

Rina pulled away from Yoojung. "What? You're gay? But, you seem so. . . and what about Jun-Seo?"

Yoojung reached out and grabbed Rina by the arm to keep her from pulling further away. "I'm almost completely straight," she said. "Almost completely. But with the right girl, under the right conditions, I might feel differently."

"But unnie!" Rina protested. "You seem so. . ."

"Normal?" Yoojung asked. "Gay people are! They just happen to love differently from you."

"Are you sure?" Rina asked. "Because it just seems wrong. . ." 

"I'm totally sure," Yoojung said. "Whether you think it's wrong or not is something you'll have to work out for yourself."


	6. Who's wearing their real face?

Sei and Do-Hyun sat at a counter in the kitchen of the restaurant where he worked, snacking on soybean sprouts.

"Are you sure chef won't mind me being back here?" Sei asked.

Do-Hyun nodded. "So long as I have you out of here by the start of dinner service, he said he's cool with it. Besides, he likes you: He says he gets so many customers from the times you've instagrammed his food that he ought to put you on the payroll."

Sei laughed at this. "Then I'll have to be sure to instagram some more of his food." She chewed on a couple of soybean sprouts, a pensive look on her face. "So. . . has Hyun-Woo said anything about his date with Suyeon?"

Do-Hyun shrugged. "I haven't talked with him this week. But I'm guessing their date went well - if it was a disaster, he would have called to complain."

"That makes sense," Sei said with a nod. "It must have gone well, because Suyeon agreed to go out with him again next weekend. . . That reminds me: Do you know a friend of his named Min-Kyu?"

"Park Min-Kyu?"

Sei shrugged. "I didn't know his family name."

Do-Hyun nodded. "It's got to be Park Min-Kyu. He and Hyun-Woo have been friends since forever. They share an apartment now. Why do you ask?"

"Hyun-Woo and Suyeon have fixed up Min-Kyu for a date with Lucy - you know, our maknae? - and I'm just worried about her."

"She'll be fine," Do-Hyun said. "I've known Min-Kyu all my life, and he's a totally decent guy." Seeing that Sei still looked worried, he went on. "Tell you what: Hyun-Woo and Min-Kyu should be waking up right about now. I'll call Min-Kyu and stress how important it is that he treat Lucy right. I'll threaten to tell my mom if he steps out of line - he's terrified of my mom!"

"I don't blame him. I'm terrified of your mom!" Sei laughed.

"And she likes you!" Do-Hyun joined in with her laughter. "If she didn't like you, then you'd have something to be worried about. Anyway, give me a minute and I'll make this call."

Sei leaned over and kissed him. "Thanks. You're the best!"

* * *

*ping*

Suyeon picked up her phone to see who had texted her. She read the message and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Lucy asked.

"That was Hyun-Woo," Suyeon said. "He told me that Do-Hyun called Min-Kyu to tell him he'd better be nice to you! Apparently Sei is still worried about you, and now she's enlisting her boyfriend to help ensure your safety."

Lucy laughed at this. "Imagine if she knew the truth!" 

"I don't think she'd ever forgive me if she knew the truth," Suyeon said. "She'd probably think that I'm taking advantage of you and that you're too young to know what you want."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I think Sei will always think I'm too young to know what I want."

"She takes being an unnie so seriously," Suyeon said. "She always wants to guide and protect you."

Lucy reached out and stroked Suyeon's hair. "And you always had to try to protect yourself, because you didn't have any unnies."

Suyeon shrugged. "I could always talk to my seniors in Hello Venus. They were like unnies to me."

Lucy shook her head. "It's not the same as having unnies in your group to look out for you."

"Well, someone had to be the oldest one in the group," Suyeon said. "And I think I've done okay at it."

"You've done better than just okay," Lucy said with a big smile. "I mean, we're still together after three years. We haven't lost any members. We haven't had any major scandals. I think you're a great leader!" She leaned in to kiss Suyeon, then quickly pulled back and looked around to be sure no one had seen her.

"Well, thank you," Suyeon said, blushing, "but I think you might be just a little bit biased in my favor."

Lucy shrugged. "Someone's gotta be!"

Just then Elly stuck her head into the room. "Suyeon can I talk to you for a second?" She looked apologetically at Lucy. "Alone?"

Lucy excused herself to go make a snack while Suyeon gestured to Elly to come sit next to her on the bed. Once Elly had gotten comfortable, Suyeon asked "So. . . what seems to be the problem?"

"It's Rina," Elly said with a sigh. "She's obsessed with the idea of trying to prove that Doyeon is gay, and it's getting really annoying."

Suyeon nodded. "And you want me to try to get her to stop."

"It's really the least you can do," Elly said. "After all, it's you and Lucy who put the idea in her head in the first place. Why'd you do that, Suyeon?"

Suyeon shrugged. "We were just trying to get her to be more open-minded about gay people. I mean, what if Rina says something homophobic in an interview? That would upset a lot of Ki-Lings - especially the international Ki-Lings. I was just saying that with the percentage of people who are gay, it was likely that someone in Weki Meki could be."

"Well, Rina took that idea and ran with it," Elly said. "She's decided that Doyeon is gay and she won't be satisfied until Doyeon admits her non-existent gayness to the rest of us."

"I'll do what I can," Suyeon said, "but you know what Rina's like once she gets an idea in her head. She's likely to be stuck with that idea until she gets another one."

"Well, anything that you can do to help her got unstuck from this idea would be a great thing," Elly said as she stood up. "As annoyed as I am right now, I can only imagine what Doyeon must be feeling."

* * *

"Now get this," Doyeon said to Min-Soo, "Rina - you remember meeting her? - has decided that I'm gay."

"What?" Min-Soo looked up from the batch of foundation he was mixing for Doyeon, his eyes wide with surprise. "And where do I fit into this?"

"Why, you're my coverboy," Doyeon said with a laugh. "Don't you know I'm only pretending to date you so I can cover up being gay?"

"Yeahhhhh," Min-Soo said, looking back down at his work. "Well, apparently you did a good job covering up, because you had me convinced you were straight."

Doyeon pulled Min-Soo's face up so that he was looking at her. "If there is a member of Weki Meki who's gay, you can be sure it's not me." She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips.

"So in Rina's fantasy world," Min-Soo went on, "what's in this for me? What - I get the ego boost of being seen dating a K-pop star? Then how does she explain the four months we dated in secret before your dating ban was lifted?"

Doyeon shrugged. "I don't know what's going on in Rina's head half the time. She gets these crazy ideas and just runs with them. Oh! And I almost forget to tell you the best part!"

"That wasn't the best part?" Min-Soo asked. "The craziness goes deeper?"

"Way deeper," Doyeon said, nodding. "This is a craziness layer cake: Crazy on top of crazy on top of crazy. Yeah, on top of dating you to cover up the fact that I'm gay, I'm apparently also involved in a secret gay relationship with - get this! - Jeon Somi!"

"Wait - Somi's gay too?" Min-Soo laughed uncontrollably. "This just gets better and better!"

Doyeon started to laugh along with Min-Soo. "Apparently, Somi and I have been in a secret lesbian relationship since when we were in I.O.I." Doyeon stopped laughing. "It's funny, but it'd be even funnier if it wasn't so annoying. Rina's constantly watching me like a hawk, trying to find evidence for her theory. Every time my phone beeps, she pops up 'Who's that?' - I had to text Somi explaining the whole thing and ask her not to text me until I get this situation handled."

"Well," Min-Soo said, packing the foundation into a compact and snapping it shut before handing it to Doyeon, "if anyone can handle it, it's you. And besides, from what you've told me about Rina, she's like one of those little yappy dogs - she's always barking about something, but she's never barking about the same thing for two minutes in a row."

Doyeon nodded. "This has already lasted days longer than any of her other crazy ideas, though. I'm afraid that the fact that it concerns a member of Weki Meki is making her stick with it." Doyeon checked the time on her phone, then stood up. "Well, I've got to be going. I've got a stack of fanmail I was supposed to have answered last week. If I leave now, I should have time to get it all done tonight."

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Min-Soo asked as he helped her into her coat and walked her to the door of his apartment.

Doyeon looked up from slipping on her shoes. "No, you've got to be in Gangnam at 4 a.m. to get your actors ready for filming. You need your sleep." She leaned forward and kissed him deeply.

"Well, be careful," he said when she released his mouth. "Text me when you get back so I'll know you made it safely."

"I will," Doyeon said on her way out the door. Min-Soo leaned out the door so that he could watch her until she got to the elevator. She loved the way he tried to be so protective of her, but was never overbearing about it. "Yes," she thought, "I really got lucky with him."

* * *

"You sure I can't help you with that?" Rina asked.

Doyeon shook her head. "No, it's okay. It's my own fault - if I would have answered my fanmail last week like the rest of you, I wouldn't have to do it tonight."

"Okay. If you're sure," Rina said. She turned to leave the kitchen and almost ran into Suyeon.

"Rina! Just who I was looking for!" Suyeon said.

Rina looked nervous. "Am I in trouble? Did I do something? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that," Suyeon said. "I just needed to talk to you for a minute. Come with me." She led Rina into the bedroom and shut the door behind them. She sat down on her bed and pulled Rina down next to her.

"This feels a lot like I'm in trouble," Rina said.

"Well, you're really not," Suyeon reassured her. "I just needed to talk to you. Remember last week when Lucy and I talked to you about the possibility of Doyeon secretly being gay?"

Rina nodded.

"I just wanted to be sure you understood I don't really think Doyeon is gay," Suyeon said. "I was just using her for an example, to show how easy it would be for someone to be gay but keep it a secret."

"But are you really sure?" Rina asked. "I mean, once you pointed it out, it all made sense, what with Somi being gay and everything."

"Having spent twenty minutes standing as a lookout so Doyeon and Min-Soo could make out in the back of a bookstore, I can pretty much guarantee you that Doyeon's not gay," Soyeon said. "Actually, I'm kind of surprised that Doyeon hasn't said anything about this - I can see how much it annoys her when you talk about her being gay."

"You can?" Rina asked. "I thought her silence meant I was on the right track, and I wanted her to know that it was okay for her to come out to me, that I'm a safe person."

"You are?" Suyeon asked.

Rina nodded, apparently surprised that Suyeon could doubt her.

"But you said that being gay was wrong, that a couple should be a boy and a girl," Suyeon protested.

Rina slumped down a little. "I don't know. I'm just confused about the whole thing. I still instinctively think a couple should be a boy and a girl, but, you know, if Doyeon was gay, she'd still be my unnie and I wouldn't like her any less."

"So it's different if it's someone you know and like," Suyeon said.

"Yes. . . well, I think so," Rina said. "I'm not really sure - I've never spent any time around a gay person."

"That you know of," Suyeon said. "Like I was saying last week, they could be in the closet. Korea still isn't a gay-friendly country, especially not outside of Seoul."

"That sort of makes it worse," Rina said, "because it means I can't trust people to be who they seem to be. It'd be so much easier if everyone could just be who they are."

"Yeah, it would," Suyeon agreed with a sigh. After they sat in silence for a moment, Suyeon said "Anyway, just wanted to stress that Doyeon isn't gay. She's actually what she appears to be: Boy-crazy and in love with Min-Soo." 


	7. Together and apart

Suyeon and Lucy met up with Hyun-Woo and Min-Kyu at the museum. Suyeon introduced Lucy and Min-Kyu.

"From what I've heard I'm not really your type," Lucy said with a smile, "but I think we'll have fun today anyway."

"I think so," Min-Kyu said. He offered Lucy his arm and escorted her into the museum.

"Well, those two seem to have their act down pat," Suyeon said with a laugh.

"I know," Hyun-Woo said as he took Suyeon's hand and walked into the museum with her. "If I didn't know better. . ."

"Well, that is the idea," Suyeon said.

"Ji Suyeon! Ji Suyeon!"

Suyeon looked up to see who was calling her name and was blinded by the flash from a camera. 

"Thank you!" said the Ki-Ling who'd taken the picture. "Have a great day!"

Suyeon waved at her as she and Hyun-Woo walked deeper in the museum. Behind them, she could hear a security guard confronting the fan: "Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Flash photography is forbidden in the museum."

"And that's another reason I picked the museum for today," Hyun-Woo said quietly. "Now, where did Min-Kyu and Lucy go?"

"There they are!" Suyeon said, pointing toward a special exhibit of 20th century American art in a gallery off to one side. 

Once they had met up with Lucy and Min-Kyu, Min-Kyu got Hyun-Woo's attention and said "There's a painting over her you really need to see."

After the guys have wandered off, Suyeon and Lucy moved over toward another wall of the gallery, making a show of looking at the artworks on the walls. Suyeon reached out and took Lucy's hand, confident that if anyone saw them, they'd just look like two friends holding hands. They found themselves in front of a wooden box.

"I don't get it," Lucy said, tilting her head to the side and squinting at the artwork. "What is it?"

The box contained antique keys, seashells, and a number of other small objects. Behind the objects, the box was lined with paper torn from a piece of sheet music. The label on the wall next to the box was less than helpful, stating simply "Box, Joseph Cornell, mixed media."

"I don't know what to think of it either," Suyeon said. "It makes me feel kind of lonely, though." She shivered and clutched Lucy's hand tighter.

"I think I like it, though," Lucy said.

"I don't know that I can say whether or not I like it," Suyeon said, "but it certainly gets a reaction from me."

Just then, Min-Kyu came over and tapped Lucy on the shoulder. "There's a video installation over there you should go see," he said, indicating a small booth in the corner. "It takes seven minutes, but it's worth every second."

"Okay! We'll check it out!" Lucy said, dragging Suyeon over to the booth. 

Once they were inside the booth, a video started playing, showing a variety of cityscapes to a background of discordant music.

"I don't get why we're supposed to see this," Suyeon said, scowling at the screen.

"Because we're sitting in a small enclosed room," Lucy said, "with a curtain to give us privacy, and music playing to cover any sounds we might incidentally make."

Suyeon looked at Lucy. "What?"

Lucy leaned forward and kissed Suyeon, who was too startled for a moment to kiss her back. 

* * *

"So?" Sei asked. "How did it go?"

"Great!" Lucy said. "We're going on another double date with the guys next time we have a day off - we're going to the movies!"

"Oh? Well, that's a relief,." Sei said.

Suyeon reached out and put her hand on Sei's shoulder. "See? Nothing to worry about."

"But there could have been something!" Sei protested. "We can't be too careful."

"Well, if you think it's quite safe," Lucy said with a pointed glance at Sei, "I've got to go do some laundry."  
"I thought you did your laundry last night?" Sei asked.

Lucy shook her head. "I was supposed to have, but I was too nervous about today and couldn't really do anything."

Sei turned to Suyeon. "See? I wasn't the only one who was nervous."

Suyeon laughed. "Yes, but Lucy was nervous because she was actually going to be there."

Sei pouted. "I've got to look out for my little sister."

Lucy gave Sei a hug on her way out of the room. "Well, thank you for looking out for me, but I really think there's nothing for you to worry about now."

Just then, Yoojung came in. "Hey guys!" Yoojung seemed not quite her usual bouncy self. "Um. . . Suyeon, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." Suyeon stood up. "See you at dinner, Sei?"

Sei nodded. Suyeon followed Yoojung to the bedroom.

"What's wrong?" Suyeon asked. "You don't look like yourself."

Yoojung closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and let the breath out. "Suyeon, I don't know how to say this. . ."

Suyeon waited.

Yoojung took another deep breath. "I'm late."

Suyeon knitted her brows in confusion. "You're what?"

"I'm late," Yoojung said. "My period was supposeed to have started three days ago and it's nowhere to be seen."

Suyeon's eyes got huge. "How could you do this? You know how important it is to be careful!"

"I have been careful!" Yoojung protested. "I'm on the pill, and I make Jun-Seo wear condoms."

"Then how did this happen?" Suyeon asked.

Yoojung shrugged. "No birth control is 100% effective. Apparently I got a jackpot in the pregnancy lottery."

"So what do we do now?" Suyeon asked. "Should you take a pregnancy test?"

Yoojung shook her head. "It's too soon for that, by at least a couple of weeks."

Suyeon sighed. "So all we can do is wait?"

Yoojung nodded.

Suyeon reached out and gave Yoojung a hug. "Then I guess I'm waiting with you. But don't tell the others - there's no point in getting them all worried until you know for sure that there's something to worry about."

Yoojung wrapped her arms aroun Suyeon and squeezed her tightly. "Suyeon, I'm scared," she said quietly.

"Don't be scared," Suyeon said. 'I'm right here with you."

Yoojung hugged Suyeon more tightly as a tear escaped her eye.

* * *

Rina plopped down on the couch next to Doyeon, grabbed the remote control and changed the channel.

"Hey!" Lua protested. "We were watching that!"

"Well you can't," Rina said. She pointed to a piece of paper taped to the wall next to the TV. "I signed up for this time a week ago. Joon-Ho's playing in the semi-finals tonight."

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "Maybe next time you can date someone who's not on television three times a week."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Rina protested. "I watch most of his games on my phone. But this is the semi-finals, so I wanted to see it on the big screen."

"Fine," Doyeon said, throwing up her hands. "So which one's Joon-Ho's team?"

"The one in the sky blue uniforms," Rina said.

"Sky blue?" Lua asked with a laugh. "It looks like baby blue!"

Rina was silent for a moment before she was forced to agree. "It does look like baby blue, but according to the team website, it's sky blue."

"And who's the other team?" Doyeon asked.

"The Ansan Green Wolves," Rina said.

"That certainly explains the green shirts," Doyeon said.

"They're pretty good, but Seoul E-Land should win tonight," Rina said.

"Go Ansan! Awoooo!" Doyeon threw her head back and howled at the ceiling.

Rina swatted Doyeon with a cushion. "Don't even joke about that! This game is very important to Joon-Ho!"

"I know," Doyeon said, taking the cushion from Rina and swatting her with it. "Seoul E-land! For one team, one spirit!"

Rina smiled. "It means a lot to me that you learned the cheers for Joon-Ho's team. I know you don't really like soccer."

"I don't really understand soccer," Doyeon said. "I mean, one team's trying to kick the ball one way, the other team's trying to kick it the other way. What's the big deal?"

"Oh, there's so much more to the game than that!" Rina said. "There's strategy and teamwork and making the clutch shot when no one expects you too - it's really a beautiful game."

"If you say so," Doyeon said. "I'm just going to watch and hope the guys in blue kick better than the guys in green."

"That'll do," Rina said, leaning back with a smile.

Lua jumped up. "I'm going to go make us some popcorn."

"No butter on mine!" Rina called out as Lua rushed to the kitchen. "I almost failed weigh-in today, so I can't afford the extra calories."

Doyeon looked at her in amazement. "You're dating an athlete! How can you be in danger of failing weigh-in?"

"It's because I got to hang out with him last week," Rina said. "He eats like every 3 hours, 4000 calories a day!"

Doyeon's eyes got huge. "Whoa! You'd better watch out - remember what Manager-nim did to Suyeon that time she failed weigh-in."

"I know!" Rina said. "I've been having nightmares about sweet potatoes ever since our last weigh-in. I-"

"GOAL!!!!!" The announcer yelled - Seoul E-land was ahead, one-nil.

* * *

Elly rolled over in her bed and looked at her phone. She had had the day off, but it hadn't done her much good because Astro was promoting, so Moonbin wasn't available. She had hoped he'd text her at some point during the day, but apparently he'd been too busy. She loaded the video app on her phone and looked to see what was happening on tonight's show. All the groups currently promoting were on stage and they were about to announce the winner. Elly held her breath, hoping it would be Astro, but it wasn't - it was Dreamcatcher. Elly flopped back on her pillow. She could understand why Dreamcatcher won - they had a really good song this era - but she still wished Astro would have won.

She texted Moonbin: "So proud of you even if you didn't win! Maybe you'll win next time! Love you!"

She put her phone on the bedside table - who knew how long it would be until he saw her message and texted her back. She sighed. As much as she loved Moonbin, there were times she wished he wasn't in K-pop. But he loved it just as much as she did - it wouldn't be fair for either of them to ask the other to give it up. Now that Weki Meki's dating ban was lifted, things should be a little easier because at least they wouldn't have to sneak around. Suddenly her phone rang, startling her. She picked it up and saw that it was Moonbin. She answered right away.

"Hey! You left the studio already?" she asked.

He laughed, which always made her smile. "No, we're still here. I just saw your text and found a quiet corner so I could call you."

"Awww, you're sweet!" His voice always made her feel all squishy inside.

"Anyway," he said, "I'll be back at the dorm in a couple of hours. I know it's kind of late, but how would you feel about going out for a little snack?"

How would she feel? When she'd just been lying here feeling sorry for herself and didn't think she'd get to see him today? "That sounds great! I'll be ready to go!"

"Okay, then, it's a date," he said. "I've got to go take care of things around here so I can be there as soon as possible. Love you!"

"Love you!"

She hung up her phone and jumped out of her bed. She had to get dressed - what to wear?


	8. Looking forward

"Don't come back too late!" Suyeon called out. "Remember, we've got practice tomorrow!" 

"Yes Mom!" Elly replied with a laugh.

Suyeon echoed Elly's laughter as she went to sit down on the couch. For a change no one was watching the TV, so Suyeon enjoyed having the screen all to herself. She flipped through the channels and ended up watching a show about "the miracle of life" on the Science Channel.

"Oh! There you are!" Lucy said as she flopped down on the couch next to Suyeon. "I've been looking all over for you! What are you watching?"

Suyeon didn't respond right away, which gave Lucy a chance to look and see what she was watching. When Lucy looked back at Suyeon, her puzzlement was evident on her face. "Why are you watching this?" she asked. "It's not like you're going to. . . you know."

Suyeon thought quickly. "Because I might want to someday. I'd have to get a donor, but then I could."

Lucy shuddered. "I can't imagine why you'd want to."

Suyeon laughed. "It's a good thing most women don't feel that way, so the human race would have died out!"

Lucy laid her head on Suyeon's shoulder. "I'm glad your mom didn't feel that way," she said quietly.

Suyeon reached out and took Lucy's hand.

Just then Doyeon came in. She saw what was on the screen and burst out "What the hell are you two watching?"

"It's just-" Suyeon began. "It's-"

"I can see what it is!" Doyeon burst out. "Are you trying to put a jinx on us, watching that? If one of us gets pregnant, Fantagio will pull the plug - no more Weki Meki!"

"I'm not going to get pregnant!" Suyeon said, as she quickly flipped the TV to the next channel, where there was a cooking show on.

"You'd better not," Doyeon said as she turned to leave the room. Looking back over her shoulder, she added "That goes for you too, Lucy. We don't need any of our members getting baby rabies!"

After Doyeon had left the room, Lucy started to giggle. "If she only knew!" she was finally able to say.

"We don't know how she'd react," Suyeon said quietly, "so we'd better make sure that she doesn't find out."

Lucy nodded, sat up straight, and attempted to stop giggling. 

* * *

After the day's practice, Sei and Lua went to dinner at the restaurant where Do-Hyun worked. The waitress recognized Sei and smiled at her. "Right this way," she said. "Your favorite table is empty."

Lua leaned over and quietly asked "You have a favorite table?"

Sei nodded, then sat down at the table the waitress had led them to. "From this table, I can see Do-Hyun's station whenever the kitchen doors open."

Lua laughed. "Ooh, girl! You've got it bad!"

Sei laughed. "Like you've got room to talk - you switch radio stations so you can listen to the one Min-Jun works at, and you don't even get to see him!"

Lua smiled at the mention of Min-Jun's name. 

"How is Min-Jun?" Sei asked.

"Pretty good," Lua said. "He's still working the evening shift, so I don't get to see him nearly enough, but he's got an application in to move to the morning shift and he thinks he's got a pretty good chance."

Sei nodded. "That'll be good." She sighed."Unfortunately, this is the best things will get for me as far as Do-Hyun's schedule. If he was to go back to lunch, that would be a major step back for his career. Plus, it'd mean he'd have to do Sunday brunch, which would be a major drag."

Just then Do-Hyun walked up to their table, carrying two small plates. "Hello, ladies! How are you this evening?" He leaned over and gave Sei a quick kiss, then put the plates on the table in front of them. "This is our new appetizer - salt-roasted prawns. Enjoy! Now, I've got to get back to my station before Chef notices I'm gone."

"Will you get a break tonight?" Sei asked.

Do-Hyun shook his head. "Not until 9:30 or 10, and that only if the dining room becomes less busy."

Sei pouted. "Well, call me when you get off work, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," Do-Hyon said with a wink as he rushed back to the kitchen.

"Suyeon's going to love your phone ringing in the middle of the night," Lua said.

"So I'll put it on vibrate," Sei said, "and sleep with it in my hand."

Lua laughed. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out."

"If I didn't do that, I'd never get a chance to talk to him!" Sei said. "Now let's get to eating - salt-roasted prawns are best when they're hot." 

* * *

Upon coming out of the bathroom, Yoojung saw Suyeon raise her eyebrows inquisitively. All she could do was shake her head. She went to the bedroom, climbed into her bed, and pulled the duvet up over her head. She heard someone come into the bedroom and felt them sit down on the edge of her bed. She squinted at the light as her duvet was peeled back.

"Hey," said Suyeon. "I just came to check on you."

"I'm still the same as yesterday," Yoojung said. "Believe me, if my situation changed I'd have a smile you could see from space."

"Have you talked to Jun-Seo about it?"

Yoojung nodded. "He offered to marry me. But I don't know if I want to marry him, and I certainly didn't want it to happen like this."

"Have you thought about. . ." Suyeon paused, unable to say the word.

"Getting an abortion?" Yoojung flopped back on her pillow. "I don't think I could do that. And that's not really a solution anyway - once the press gets hold of that, my career will be over just as surely as it would be if I was pregnant."

Suyeon reached out and took Yoojung's hand. "I don't-"

"I know you don't have the answers for me," Yoojung said. "Just promise me one thing, Suyeon."

"What's that?" Suyeon asked.

"Don't give up on me," Yoojung said. "No matter what happens, don't give up on me."

"I never would," Suyeon said, leaning down and giving Yoojung a hug. "Never. No matter what happens, you're my little sister."

Yoojung reached up and clung to Suyeon. She didn't say anything, but Suyeon could tell by the shaking of her shoulders than she was crying. Suyeon stayed on Yoojung's bed, hugging her, until Yoojung fell asleep. Then she gently extricated her arms, straightened Yoojung's duvet, and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

"What's wrong with Yoojung?" Lucy asked as Suyeon sat down on the couch next to her.

Suyeon shook her head. "She's going through something rough right now, but I can't say more than that. Just. . . be extra-nice to her, okay?"

Lucy nodded, her face serious. "Yoojung's going to be okay, isn't she?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon looked up at the ceiling, then down again. "I hope so, but we don't know exactly when or how."

Lucy reached out and gave Suyeon a hug. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

* * *

Doyeon looked up as Rina came into their bedroom. "What are you doing home so early?" she asked. "I figured you'd be out with Jooh-Ho, celebrating E-Land getting to the finals."

Rina flopped down on her bed so hard she bounced. "I wish," she said. "Instead, his coach has the team on 24-hour lockdown to be sure that nothing happens to anyone before the finals."

Doyeon whistled. "That's harsh!"

Rina shrugged. "It's what he feels like he has to do. And it's only for the next week. Besides, I can't really complain - he never complains about not getting to see me when we're promoting a new song." Rina sat up. "That reminds me - I need to go talk to Suyeon and find out if we have an evening off in the next few days. Joon Ho wants to give me tickets so I can see one of his games live."

Doyeon sat up suddenly. "Tickets? As in plural? As in more than one? As in you could take one of your bandmates?"

"Yeah," Rina said with a nod. "You want to come?"

Doyeon nodded. "I ended up really enjoying the game we watched the other night, and I imagine it would be even more fun to see it live."

"All right then," Rina said. "I officially declare you my plus-one. Now I'd better to talk to Suyeon." She got up and started wandering around the apartment looking for Suyeon. She found her in the kitchen with Lucy, eating sauteed dried shrimp. "Mmm. That smells good," she said. "Did you make enough to share?"

"Sure!" Suyeon said, grabbing a bowl and putting some shrimp in it for Rina. "But I'm sure you didn't just come in here to get in on our snacks. What's going on?"

"Oh," Rina said, popping a couple of shrimp in her mouth, "I was wondering if there was a time in the next few days that we have an evening off."

"Day after tomorrow," Suyeon said. "And then again Saturday, followed by a full day off on Sunday. Why?"

"Joon-Ho wants to give me tickets to come watch him play in the finals," Rina said, eating the last of her shrimp and putting the bowl in the sink.

"Tickets?" Lucy asked in excitement. "As in we can all go?"

Rina shook her head. "Afraid not. It's tickets as in 'two,' and I already promised Doyeon she can go with me." As she was saying this, Rina had already pulled out her phone and started texting. "It's only a few months until next season starts, though, and I can probably get tickets for all of us to see a pre-season game."

"Okay," Lucy said with a smile. "That sounds great!"

Rina's eye narrowed. "I never knew you were such a soccer fan," she said.

Lucy shook her head. "Oh, I'm not. But I've never been to a soccer game, so I want to try it and see what it's like."

"That's why we're going to the opera this Sunday," Suyeon said.

"The opera? Isn't that expensive?" Rina asked.

Suyeon shook her head. "FanMu was able to get us free tickets - the opera likes the added publicity of K-pop stars coming out. We'll have to deal with photographers on the way in and out, but that's about it."

"And your guys are okay with you two going to the opera without them?" Rina asked, her expression puzzled.

"They're coming with us," Lucy said. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Then we're going out to dinner after."

"Sounds like you've got quite the day planned," Rina said, as she headed for the door. "And once the finals are over, I'll be sure to talk to Joon Ho about the preseason."

As Rina made her way down the hall to her room, she could swear she heard the sound of a kiss. She shook her head. "I've got to be hearing things. No one can bring their boyfriend into the apartment. 


	9. Plans and Promises

The opera was great. The tickets Fanmu had given them were high up on one side - not great for watching the opera, but good for hearing it, and great for making out without being observed. As the lead soprano's final note died away and the opera came to an end, Suyeon leaned in to give Lucy one more quick kiss, then said "Okay, everybody change partners."

So Suyeon took Hyun-Woo's hand and Lucy took Min-Kyu's and they made their way out of the opera house. As they had expected, there were some photographers outside the door, waiting to capture any celebrities who had gone to the opera. Suyeon and Lucy caught their attention, at least until someone more famous came out the door behind them.

"That was fun," Hyun-Woo said. "You want to come back to our apartment and watch a movie or something? We can order in!"

Suyeon glanced over at Lucy. Seeing the slight nod that Lucy gave her, she said "That would be great!"

They took the bus to Hyun-Woo and Min-Kyu's neighborhood, everybody being very aware that they were out in public and so making sure to pay attention to the person they were pretending to date. When they got to Hyun-Woo and Min-Kyu's apartment, Min-Kyu called to order the food while the others sat down and started talking.

"So," Suyeon said to Hyun-Woo, "has Do-Hyun gotten off your back since we started dating?"

Hyun-Woo laughed. "Yes, he finally has. Of course, now we have to keep up the pretense."

"What's so bad about that?" Suyeon asked. "I think we get along great. I mean, neither one of us would be romantically interested in the other one, but we make great friends."

Hyun-Woo smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess we do. I'm just worried that he's going to expect us to take our relationship further - you know, bringing you around to meet my parents, that sort of thing. If we don't watch out, we could pretend ourselves into a wedding!"

"Yeah, that would be taking the pretense a bit far," Suyeon agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "So how long to we have before we have to break things off?"

Hyun-Woo looked up at the bus ceiling and chewed his lower lip as he thought. "Do-Hyun and Sei had been dating for about three months when he brought her to meet our parents, so I think you and I will need to break up somewhere before the three-month mark."

"So about two months from now," Suyeon said, nodding decisively. "We can manage that. And in the meantime we've gotten everyone off our backs for a while."

Hyun-Woo looked worried. "Yeah. But in those two months, we've got to come up with a good reason for breaking up - something that will keep our friends and family from trying to push us back today, but not something that will make your friends dislike me or Do-Hyun dislike you."

Suyeon thought for a moment. "Mutual incompatibility? We realize that we're never going to get married, so we decided to break it off rather than wasting each other's time."

"What about me?" Lucy asked. "Min-Kyu and I will have to break up too, but it'll look suspicious if we break up at the same time you do."

Suyeon looked thoughtful. "That is a problem. What can we do about that?"

"Do about what?" Min-Kyu asked as he came in and sat down by Hyun-Woo. Once he'd been brought up to speed, Min-Kyu cupped his chin in his hand, thinking seriously about the problem. "I think," he said, "that maybe Lucy and I never had a really serious relationship, so once Hyun-Woo and Suyeon break up, we sort of drift apart because we don't travel in the same social circles."

"That's a good idea," Suyeon said. "Because Lucy's so much younger, the others won't be expecting her to be as serious about things."

Lucy began to pout. "Is that what you think of me? 'Lucy's just the maknae, so she doesn't know what real love is?'"

"No," Suyeon said, leaning in to kiss Lucy quickly, "but it's what some of our friends might think, and we've got to be clever enough to use that to our advantage."

"Well," Lucy said hesitantly. "Okay. I guess."

"And in the meantime," Suyeon said, "we've got two months without our friends trying to set us up with somebody."

"That's true," Lucy said with a nod. "I just wish we could be honest with them. Things would be so much simpler."

"How do you think your members would react?" Hyun-Woo asked.

"Elly and Doyeon probably wouldn't like it," Suyeon said. "Sei probably wouldn't like it, just because she'd feel like I had been playing around with Hyun-Woo's heart. Rina and Lua probably wouldn't care one way or the other. And Yoojung's too tied up with her own problems right now to worry about what the rest of us do."

"Yoojung would be on our side," Lucy said. "I've heard her say things in support of LGBT rights before."

"What if I came out to Do-Hyun?" Hyun-Woo asked. "How would Sei react then, when she knew the actual nature of our relationship?"

"I don't know," Suyeon said. "I've never talked to her about anything like this."

Lucy shook her head. "Me either."

"So bring up the topic, casually, see what she thinks," Hyun-Woo said.

Suyeon's jaw dropped. "Are you saying you're thinking about coming out?"

Min-Kyu nodded. "We were talking about it last night. We're tired of all the lies that being in the closet entails. It's just a matter of picking the right time to come out."

"It's not like our families wouldn't eventually figure it out anyway," Hyun-Woo added. 

Lucy's eyes got wide. "That changes everything!" she exclaimed. "If you two come out, that would explain you breaking up with us, so Suyeon and I could stay in the closet."

"Do you want to stay in the closet?" Hyun-Woo asked.

"It would make things easier," Suyeon admitted. "But we don't want to force you two to come out. We should stick with our original plan."

"You wouldn't be forcing us to come out," Hyun-Woo said. "Besides, we don't have to make a decision today - if two months pass and we decide it's not the right time for us to come out, then we can fall back on the original plan."

"Sounds good," Suyeon said.

* * *

Lua was waiting outside the radio station, her identity concealed with a baseball cap and sunglasses, waiting for Min-Jun to come out. When he finally did, she skipped over and took his hand.

"Hey! I wasn't expecting you!" he said. "I thought you were promoting tonight."

She shook her head. "The network called and canceled our appearance at the last minute, so I've got an unexpected evening off."

Min-Jun smiled. "Well, however, it happened, I'm glad to get to see you tonight."

"I'm so glad I can finally do this!" she said.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Walk down the street holding your hand," she said, squeezing his hand for emphasis. "Things were so much harder before the end of our dating ban."

Min-Jun nodded. "That's true. This is much better than stolen moments whenever your group would come to the station for promos and then hours and hours of texting."

"So," she asked, "have you heard anything yet about the morning drive-time job?"

He shook his head. "At least three of us have applied for it, plus who knows how many outside engineers. Management's keeping real quiet about what they're thinking."

"I'm sure they'll pick you," Lua said, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

"I'm not so sure," he said, "but I'm doing everything I can to make them pick me. Next week I'm picking up some overnight shifts while one of the guys is out on leave."

Lua pouted. "That means I won't get to see you at all next week."

Min-Jun nodded. "Unfortunately, that's true. But the fact that I'm willing to step up and help like that makes it more likely that I'll get picked for the morning job."

"I guess that's true," she said, looking disgruntled.

"And it's only for a week," he said. "It'll be less of a disruption than if you had a comeback."

"That's true," she said, mollified. "And you're always so patient whenever I've got a comeback."

"Well, you're worth it," he said with a smile. He looked around, noticing where their wandering had taken them. "Say, are you hungry? I know a great pizza place just around the corner."

She laughed. "In other words, you worked through dinner again, and we'd better feed you before you die of starvation."

"You know me so well," he said with a grin.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go to this pizza place of yours. I'll be the judge of how great it really is!"

"But you like pineapple on pizza!" he protested.

"Proof of my superior palate, and that's why I should get to judge," she said with a smile.

* * *

Yoojung sat on her bed, looking out the window. It seemed like every other person she saw was a woman pushing a stroller.

"I can't be pregnant," she thought to herself. "I just can't. It'll ruin everything!"

She tried to imagine what would happen to her life if she was pregnant. She'd get kicked out of Weki Meki as soon as FanMu found out, for one thing. The press would forget about her soon enough, as soon as the next scandal came along. They'd remember her again when the baby was born, then forget her forever unless she could make some sort of a comeback on TV or in the movies.

"Who am I kidding," she thought. "They'd never let me play the love interest, and I'm too young for the mother parts. I'd end up having to marry Jun-Seo out of a lack of other options."

She pictured herself in a small apartment, packing Jun-Seo's lunch and sending him off to work. She'd spend most of her time alone with the baby, except for once a week when she'd go out to buy groceries. Jun-Seo would have to try harder to get a promotion, because he had a family to provide for, so that would mean lots of late nights drinking with the bosses so they'd think he was a good guy. She'd spend Saturday morning fixing hangover soup for him, then hopefully they could afford to get a babysitter and go out Saturday evening.

She sighed. It was a life so many Korean women could identify with, but she wanted more.

"If I'm not pregnant," she thought, "I'll never complain about anything we have to do for a comeback. And I'll never turn down even the smallest acting job." Being on the verge of possibily losing everything she had hoped for made her want it that much more.

Just then Rina came into the bedroom and plopped down on the bed next to Yoojung. "Hi unnie. Whatcha doin'?" she asked.

"Just sitting her looking out the window," Yoojung replied. "Why aren't you out with Joon-Ho?"

Rina pouted. "His coach has the team confined to their hotel until the finals are over, and no visitors are allowed."

"That's harsh," Yoojung said.

Rina shrugged. "Joon-Ho told me that his coach took a team to the finals once before, only to lose the championship because several of the guys went out, got drunk, and got in a wreck. So this time he's not taking any chances."

Yoojung looked thoughtful. Looked at through that lens, the coach's actions seemed reasonable. "So what did you come find me for?"

"Well," Rina said, "I bought a new dress yesterday, and I need to pick out some shoes to go along with it, and I don't want to go shopping by myself."

Yoojung looked out the window. Shoe-shopping with Rina wouldn't be her first choice for how to spend an afternoon off, but it would probably be a better way to pass the time than just sitting here looking out the window and trying to will her period into existence.

"Okay," she said, "let's go."


	10. Answers and Questions

"Unnie, can you do me a favor?" Rina asked.

Yoojung looked skeptically at her. She'd already spent all afternoon shopping for shoes, what more could Rina want? "What favor?" she asked hesitantly.

"I really kind feel like I need to be alone for a while. Could you take my shoes back to the apartment and I'll be back in a little while?"

"Are you sure?" Yoojung asked. "You don't usually like going places by yourself - that's why I'm here."

"I know," Rina said, "but I want to get more comfortable being by myself, and right now I don't feel like going back to the apartment."

"Okay, if you're sure," Yoojung said, taking Rina's shopping bag from her. "I'll put your shopping on your bed."

Rina jumped forward and gave Yoojung a hug. "Thanks unnie! You're the best!"

Yoojung smiled as she walked off. This favor for Rina would give her a chance to go to a pharmacy far away from the dorm and buy a pregnancy test. Waving good-bye to Rina, she walked down the street and turned into the next pharmacy she found. She picked up a shopping basket and went up and down the aisles, looking for the pregnancy tests. Ginseng tonics, hangover cures, headache pills, antacids - she was on the verge of asking for help when she spotted the pregnancy tests.

"Wow!" she said. "I had no idea there were so many different kinds of pregnancy tests. She settled on one that came three tests to a box and promised to give 99.5% accurate results in under a minute.

"What if I'm recognized despite everything?" she asked herself. She thought for a minute as she walked down the aisle of greeting cards and stationery. "That's it!" she said to herself. She picked out a birthday card and some wrapping paper. "If I get recognized, I'll say it's a gag gift for a friend's birthday."

As it turned out, her precautions were totally unnecessary - the part-timer working the register didn't even look up at her. Slipping the pharmacy bag inside the shoe store bag, she left the pharmacy and headed back to the dorm.

* * *

Rina stood outside the Intercontinental Seoul COEX, took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked in. She looked around the lobby, in awe of the luxuriousness of her surroundings. "This is much better than any hotel we've ever stayed at," she said to herself. She sat down on a couch, pulled her phone out of her purse, and called Joon-Ho. He answered on the first ring.

"Boy, you must really be bored," she said.

"You've got no idea," he said. "I'm starting to get stir-crazy."

"Can you come down to the lobby?" she asked.

He paused for a moment. "Coach didn't say we could go down to the lobby."

"Did he say you couldn't?" she pressed.

Another pause. "I guess not. I'll be down in just a minute!"

She moved to another couch and sat watching the bank of elevators like a cat watching a mousehole. Finally an elevator door opened to reveal Joon-Ho behind it. He was wearing a track suit and trainers and looked totally out of place in the hotel's lobby, but she didn't care - she loved him, and she hadn't seen him in almost a week. It didn't matter what he was wearing.

After he kissed her hello, he said "I know I can't bring you up to my room - coach explicitly said no guests in the rooms."

"Can we go to the restaurant or coffee shop?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'd better not - if coach found out I'd gone there, he might thing I'd eaten something the team dietician hadn't approved."

"And you're sure you couldn't sneak me up to your room?" she asked.

His head-shaking intensified. "No way. There's 20 guys on our wing, plus all the coaches and trainers and - we wouldn't make it ten feet before someone spotted you."

In the end, they ended up sitting on one of the couches behind a potted palm, talking quietly and occasionally kissing. Suddenly, one of Joon-Ho's teammates dashed around the corner and, spotting Joon-Ho, came straight over to them. 

"Joon-Ho!" he exclaimed. "Coach is looking for you. You missed your PT session this afternoon and he's tearing the place apart trying to find you."

"My PT's not until 4:30," Joon-Ho said.

"No, it was at 4. Now come on!" He grabbed Joon-Ho's hand and pulled him from the couch. 

Joon-Ho blew Rina a kiss as he was dragged away, saying "See you later babe, thanks for coming to visit!"

Rina sat quietly on the couch, trying to think if there was anything she could do to help Joon-Ho. She had just decided there wasn't when one of the concierges came over and asked if she needed something, his manner suggesting that she shouldn't be there.

"I've been visiting a guest of this hotel, but now I need to leave" she said calmly. "Can you call me a cab?"

"If Madame will accompany me," he said, his manner changing totally once he heard that not only did she have a valid reason for being there, but also she was about to leave. "The Intercontinental Seoul COEX always has cabs on standby." He led Rina to a taxi and helped her into the back. She gave the driver the address for Weki Meki's dorm, then sat back to enjoy the ride.

* * *

Suyeon and Lucy made their way into Weki Meki's apartment, overflowing with good feeling from their afternoon's activities.

"There you are," Doyeon said. "I was starting to wonder what had happened to you."

"We went back to the guys' apartment and watched a movie after the opera was over," Suyeon said. "Why aren't you out with Min-Soo?"

Doyeon pouted. "He's filming on location on Jeju Island, won't be back for another week."

Suyeon and Lucy sat down on either side of her. "If we'd known you were here alone, we would have come back sooner."

"You don't need to do that," Doyeon said, "But do you feel like going out to get something to eat with me? I'm half-starved."

"We already ate," Lucy said, "but I'd be down with keeping you company while you ate."

"Sounds good. Let me get dressed and we can go."

"Is Yoojung around?" Suyeon asked.

"She walked in just before you did," Doyeon said. "She said hi and then went straight to her bed. Apparently shopping with Rina was too much for her and she's tired out."

"I'm going to talk to her for a second before we go," Suyeon said. "I'll meet you back here."

Suyeon went into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to Yoojung. "Any news?" she asked.

Yoojung looked around. "Not yet. I got some pregnancy tests, though."

"Okay," Suyeon said. "Well, Lucy and I are about to go out to eat with Doyeon. Do you want to come?"

Yoojung shook her head. "While you're gone, I'll be alone in the apartment," she said. "It'll be the perfect time to take one of the tests."

"If you're sure," Suyeon said.

"You go," Yoojung said. "I don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Okay," Suyeon said, "but text me as soon as you have a result."

"Will do," Yoojung said quietly.

* * *

As it turned out, it took them fifteen more minutes to get ready to go. First Doyeon had to get dressed, then Lucy and Suyeon, seeing that they were overdressed, had to change clothes. Finally, they were all dressed to their satisfaction and left the apartment. Yoojung took one of the pregnancy tests out of the box, hid the box at the bottom of her locker, and went to the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, Yoojung unwrapped the test and read the directions. "Okay," she said to herself, "all I have to do is pee on the stick and put the cap on, then wait a minute. A line in window 1 means the test is valid, and then if there's a line in window 2, then I'm pregnant."

Yoojung took the test as directed, then waited a minute. Then she waited another minute. And another. After five minutes, she was forced to acknowledge that both windows were staying resolutely blank. "Invalid test," she said to herself, "which means I have to wait another week." She wrapped the test in toilet paper and pushed it down to the bottom of the trash can.

Once she had washed her hands, she found her phone and texted Suyeon: "Invalid test. I have to wait a week. :("

She hadn't waited long before Suyeon texted her back. "Then I'm waiting with you."

Yoojung sighed and put her phone in her pocket. However sympathetic Suyeon might be, Suyeon wouldn't be the one to face the consequences if the next test came up positive.

Just then the door opened and Rina came in. "Unnie!" she said. "Where is everybody?"

"Doyeon, Suyeon, and Lucy just went out for dinner," Yoojung said, "And Elly, Lua, and Sei are out who knows where."

"Oh," Rina said. "Well, I don't feel like cooking, so I was thinking I'd order in. Do you want anything?"

Yoojung was about to say no when her stomach rumbled and betrayed her. "Where are you ordering from?" she asked.

"I was thinking of Park's, unless you've got someplace else you'd rather." Rina said, pulling out her phone and getting ready to call.

"Park's is fine," Yoojung assured her. "Can you get me a chicken soup?"

"That's all?" Rina asked. "Just a chicken soup?"

Yoojung nodded. "I need to eat, but I don't really want to, so just the soup should be fine."

"If you're sure," Rina said. "You don't even want some samgyeopsal?" 

Yoojung shook her head, the thought of the fatty pork threatening to make her sick. "Just the chicken soup."

* * *

"And then," Doyeon said, "because they found out two of the girls were gay, they just disbanded the whole group!"

Suyeon and Lucy gave the requisite gasps of surprise here, and Doyeon went on with her story.

"Can you imagine that? Just disbanded the group like it was nothing! Some of the girls had been building careers as actresses, but some of them are left scrambling."

"Is that why you're always trying to build up your acting career?" Lucy asked.

"Partly," Doyeon said, "but also I'm aware that even if nothing like that ever happens to Weki Meki, we're unlikely to make it past our seventh year, and I have to have something to fall back on."

"That's a good idea," Suyeon said. "That's why I'm studying songwriting. That's going to be my fallback."

"I guess I'd better find something to develop as a fallback," Lucy said.

"Right now you just concentrate on doing well in school," Doyeon said, "that'll be your fallback."

Lucy nodded and took a sip of her tea.

Suyeon fidgeted with the paper from her straw. "Did they say who it was who was gay?"

Doyeon shook her head, then finished chewing a mouthful of noodles. "They're in the closet and the agency is keeping them there in hopes of being able to build a career for them."

Lucy looked confused. "If they're going to do that, then why bother splitting up the group?"

"This way," Suyeon said, "if they two who are in the closet do get outed, and if the reaction is negative, it won't affect the others. Or at least not as much."

Lucy sat silently, taking this in for a moment. "What would we do if someone in Weki Meki was gay?"

Doyeon looked to Suyeon for an answer, but the leader's attention had been caught up by something outside the window. Doyeon took a sip of tea, then when she saw that Suyeon wasn't paying attention, she started to answer. "They'd have to stay in the closet. The other members would have to help them stay in the closet. Some agencies would be okay with something like that, but I don't think FanMu would be."

"So if Suyeon and I were dating, you'd help us stay in the closet?" Lucy asked.

Doyeon paused, a bite of noodles halfway to her mouth. She blinked twice, slowly, then put the noodles back in the bowl, a smile spreading across her face. "I get it! This is the new 'Doyeon is gay' joke! I don't think Rina would fall for it, though - you two seem too happy with your boyfriends."

"But what if?" Lucy pressed. "Would you help us?"

"Of course," Doyeon said, picking up some noodles. "We're Weki Meki - we always stand by each other!"

Suyeon turned away from the window and fixed Doyeon with her most serious gaze. "I'm glad to hear you say that, because Lucy and I are dating."

Doyeon started to laugh nervously, then stopped when no one joined in. The noodles slid off her chopsticks one by one as she gradually realized that Suyeon wasn't joking. 


	11. Not What Was Expected

"You're dating?" Doyeon's eyes were huge as she looked from Suyeon to Lucy and back again. "Why? And when? And what about your boyfriends? And. . ."

Suyeon laughed. "And maybe if you'd stop asking questions, you'd get some answers to the ones you've already asked."

Doyeon put her chopsticks down, folded her hands in her lap, and waited patiently.

"Yes, we're dating," Suyeon said. "Why is because I'm gay and Lucy is bi and we're interested in each other. When is ever since the night of our dating ban lifting celebration. And the boyfriends are just helping us stay in the closet."

Doyeon's jaw dropped. "So. . ." she began tentatively, "for the last three weeks you two have been carrying on a secret romance?"

Lucy nodded. "Pretty much."

"I thought Sei was going to figure it out when she found us asleep on the couch the morning after the celebration," Suyeon said, "but apparently she didn't put two and two together."

Doyeon's eyes got huge. "That's so romantic! It's like something out of a drama!" She imitated a drama announcer's voice. "Their love was secret, because it was forbidden."

"Pretty much," Suyeon said. "We weren't planning on coming out to our members yet, but the conversation we were having this evening just led so naturally to it that I figured this was the time."

"So I was the first member you came out to?" Doyeon asked. "When are you going to tell the others?"

"You were the first," Suyeon confirmed.

"As for the others, we're just sort of playing that by ear," Lucy added. "We were worried about telling you, and we're worried about telling Elly. After that, the others should be easier."

Doyeon reached out and took both their hands. "You were worried about telling me? Really?"

Suyeon shrugged. "We weren't sure how you'd take it. You seemed really annoyed when Rina thought you were gay."

"That was just because it was Rina and she wouldn't let it drop," she said. She paused for a moment, her face growing serious. "You - any of our members - are like my sisters. I've always got your back, no matter what."

"That's good to know," Lucy said, smiling at Doyeon.

Doyeon leaned forward. "So. . . what about your boyfriends? Are they just going to pretend to go out with you forever?"

Suyeon shook her head. "We've got to break up within the next three weeks or else I have to meet Hyun-Woo's mother and it all gets too complicated."

Doyeon nodded. "So you've still got a little time to figure it out."

"And we also need to come out to all our members before that time, so no one tries setting us up on another blind date," Suyeon added.

"You probably should go on an occasional blind date, just so people won't get suspicious," Doyeon said.

"I'm not worried about that," Suyeon replied. "There are lots of idols who don't date, or at least don't date publicly, People will just think we're extra busy - me because I'm the leader and Lucy because she has to deal with school on top of being in Weki Meki."

"I hadn't really thought about it in that light," Doyeon said.

"So do you have any ideas as to how we should go about telly Elly?" Lucy asked. "You know she doesn't like anything out of the ordinary, so she won't like this."

"That's a tough one," Doyeon said, chewing her lower lip. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Well, we've still got a couple of weeks," Suyeon said. "In the meantime, we need to get back to the apartment, if you're done eating.

* * *

Rina waited for the driver from Park's, then she and Yoojung sat down with their food to watch a rerun of Running Man.

"I've seen this one before," Rina said. "They make the members of Blackpink go through a haunted house and Jennie's a big chicken. It's so funny!"

"You sure you want to watch it again? I'm sure we can find one you haven't seen."

Rina shook her head. "No, this one was really funny. Let's watch it."

They had finished their dinner and were watching the end of the episode when Rina's phone beeped. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was a text from Joon-Ho. "I hope he didn't get in too much trouble," she thought.

Her heart fell when she opened the text and saw that it was written in all caps. "THIS IS JOON-HO'S COACH. HE IS LOSING HIS PHONE BECAUSE OF HIS ACTIONS TODAY. IF YOU CARE ABOUT HIM, YOU'LL STAY AWAY FROM HIM UNTIL AFTER THE FINALS ARE OVER."

"What's up?" Yoojung asked, seeing the seriousness of Rina's face. After Rina had explained to her where she had gone and what had happened, then she let her read the text. Yoojung whistled softly. "Wow! That's pretty harsh," she said. "Is his coach always this harsh?"

Rina noddedd. "He's usually pretty strict, but ever since E-Land got into the finals, he's been all over them about everything. He doesn't want anything they do to jeopardize their chances."

"Wow!" Yoojung said. "And here I thought our manager was strict!"

Rina shook her head. "Compared to Coach Lee, our manager is a pussycat!"

Just then the apartment door opened and Lua walked in. "Hey guys!" she said. "What's up?"

'Rina's getting her boyfriend in trouble," Yoojung said.

Lua's eyes got huge. "What? What happened?"

So Rina told Lua what had happened that afternoon. By the time she reached the end of the story, Rina had started crying. She ended the story with "and so now he's in trouble and it's all my fault!"

"No! No no no!" Lua and Yoojung both told her at once.

"Joon-Ho is a grown man," Lua said. "He knew the chances of getting in trouble when he came down to visit you. And he decided you were worth it."

When she was able to stop crying, Rina looked at Lua and said "You seemed particularly happy when you got in. What's up?"

"Oh, I got a wonderful surprise today," Rina said. "Min-Jun was supposed to work today, but instead he got the day off because next week they're giving him a try-out for the morning show! If he doesn't screw up the engineering and has a good on-air rapport with the hosts, he should be a shoo-in for the job."

"Oh, that's great news!" Yoojung said. "So I guess you'll be getting up early all next week to listen to the morning show?"

Lua nodded. "Morning show starts at 5, and I want to hear the whole thing."

"Well good luck to him," Yoojung said. "Tell him we all wish him luck."

"Will do," Lua said, as she headed off to her bedroom.

* * *

'You don't know how lucky you are," Elly said to Moonbin as she laid in his arms.

"What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Your members are normal," she said. "They hardly ever cause you any trouble."

"And your members cause trouble?" he asked with a laugh.

"My members are a bunch of beagles," she said. "Every time I turn around, one of them is getting into something. I don't know what they'd do without me there to keep things on track."

"Surely it's not that bad," Moonbin said.

"Not that bad?" Elly shrieked, reaching out and tickling him. "Recently I had to deal with Rina being convinced that Doyeon was gay. Rina was driving Doyeon crazy trying to get her to admit that she was gay. And Suyeon wouldn't have done anything if I hadn't told her to. Even worse, Suyeon was the one who put the idea in her head!"

"Okay, maybe it is that bad," Moonbin conceded. "So what are you going to do?"

"There's nothing I can do," she said glumly. "Suyeon's the leader and-" Sudden she sat upright. "That's it! I'll convince Suyeon to step aside and make me the leader! What time is it?"

Moonbin grabbed his phone off the bedside table and held it up so Elly could see the time.

"I had no idea it was that late!" she said. "The maknaes will be coming in late for curfew and Suyeon won't ever give them any consequences. Hell, Suyeon's likely to be late herself." She got up and started getting dressed. 

"At least all you have to do is climb a couple of flights to stairs to get back. Imagine if I lived somewhere further away."

"Yeah, I guess that's good," she admitted. She looked around "Do you see my pants?"

Moonbin pointed at them, after which she finished getting dressed, gave him one last kiss, and headed off to Weki Meki's apartment.

"Just watch," she said to herself. "The maknaes will come straggling in 5, 10, 15 minutes late, and Suyeon won't say a word about it!" 

She was surprised to get back to the apartment and discover that all the other members were already there. "Good job getting in before curfew, everyone," she said. "Let's try to do that all the time, okay?"

Suyeon just rolled her eyes and went back to talking to Lucy.

Elly went to the kitchen and got herself a glass of juice, then came back into the living room. "Suyeon," she said, "I need to talk to you for a minute."

"What a coincidence!" Suyeon said brightly. "I need to talk to you for a minute too!"

Suyeon led Elly out on the balcony so they could have some privacy from the other members. Elly closed the door behind them.

"I'd like to go first," they both said at once. Suyeon started laughing at this. Elly, despite wanting to be serious, found herself joining in.

When Suyeon was able to get her laughter under control, she started talking. "Elly, one of our members is gay. We've got to be sure to help her stay in the closet."

Elly paused, speechless for a moment. This wasn't what she had expected Suyeon to want to talk to her about. "One of our members is gay?" she was finally able to ask.

"Actually, two of our members," Suyeon said quietly.

"Are you going to tell me who it is, or do I have to spend the next week looking at everyone suspiciously?" Elly asked.

"It's me," Suyeon said, "and Lucy. And we're dating."

Elly brows knitted in confusion. "But you two have boyfriends!"

"Pretend boyfriends," Suyeon said.

'Well," Elly said, "so far you're both staying in the closet pretty well."

"We've had to," Suyeon said. "So far you and Doyeon are the only ones who know. I'm trying to figure out the best way and time to tell each member." Suyeon looked at Elly. "You should be glad you're not the leader, so you don't have to deal with this."

"I'm just. . ." Elly began. "I don't know what to say. I wasn't expecting this."

"But you'll help us stay in the closet?" Suyeon asked, her eyes bright with worry.

"Of course," Elly said. "I'd never want to do anything to hurt Weki Meki."

"Tell me the truth," Suyeon said, "how do you feel about this?"

Elly shook her head. "I don't even know, Suyeon. I'm too surprised to even know how I feel. I just. . . wow! You totally took me by surprise!"

"Are we the first gay people you've known?" Suyeon asked.

"So far as I know," Elly said. "If I did know any others, they stayed in the closet."

"Well, I hope when you know how you feel about this, you feel okay," Suyeon said. After a moment's silence, she added "I believe there was something you wanted to talk about?"

Elly waved her hand dismissively. "That can wait until another time. We've got enough to deal with right now."

"Are you sure?" Suyeon asked.

Elly nodded.

"Well, we can talk about it another time. Just let me know when," Suyeon said. "Just remember, right now Doyeon's the only other one who knows about me and Lucy." After a pause, she went on. "Well, we'd better get inside." She opened the door and went back in, leaving Elly to follow behind her. 


	12. Frozen Out

Suyeon and Lucy were sitting in a booth at Caffe Pascucci, Suyeon drinking an Americano and Lucy drinking an iced cappuccino. They were close enough to the Japanese jazz quintet that the music would keep people from eavesdropping on them, biut not so close that they had to shout over the music to be heard.

"So," Lucy said, "you've told two of our members, with no problems so far."

Suyeon nodded. "Yeah, but I'm kind of worried about some of the rest."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked. "I thought you said Elly and Doyeon would be the big problems."

"Elly Doyeon had the potential to be big problems," Suyeon said. "That doesn't mean the other would be totally non-problematic."

"Lua-" Lucy began.

Suyeon waved dismissively. "Lua will be no problem. She's totally LGBT-positive. But the others. . ."

"I thought you said the others would be easier," Lucy protested.

"They're potentially easier," Suyeon said, "but they're also potentially problems. "Rina should be okay, after the lessons in tolerance her unnies have given her, but there's always a chance that she's fallen back into old homophobic habits. And Sei. . . Sei should be the very last. She's likely to think that we've been playing with Hyun-Woo and Min-Kyu's hearts. We could really be stirring up problems for the guys. We've got to make sure they're ready to come out before we tell Sei."

"What about Yoojung?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon rolled her eyes and sighed. "I wish we didn't have to tell Yoojung."

"Why?" Lucy looked shocked. "I thought Yoojung would be okay with us?"

"Oh, she will be," Suyeon said. "It's just that Yoojung's having some other problems right now and I wish she didn't have to deal with the potential problems of our situation on top of her problems."

"What's going on with Yoojung?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon took a sip of her coffee, then sat there fidgeting with the handle of her cup. Finally, when Lucy thought she'd never speak, Suyeon said "I guess if I can't trust you, we shouldn't even be dating, so here goes. . . but you can't tell anyone you know this - not even Yoojung. Got it?"

Lucy mimed locking her mouth shut, then crossed her heart.

Suyeon laughed. "I guess that will have to do. Yoojung thinks she might be pregnant."

Lucy gasped, then sat in stunned silence for a minute. "Why doesn't she just take a pregnancy test and find out?"

"She tried taking a test," Suyeon said. "It didn't give her a valid result. She has to wait a week to take another test."

"Oh. . . poor Yoojung!" Lucy looked like she was on the verge of tears at her unnie's plight.

"But hey, you can't let on that you know," Suyeon said. "We just have to be ready to be there for her if she is pregnant."

Lucy nodded seriously. "Does Jun-Seo know?"

Suyeon nodded. "Yes. He's even offered to marry Yoojung, but she's not sure if she wants to be married to him, and if she does, she doesn't want it to happen like this. So they're both just waiting for her to get a valid test result."

"That must be so hard," Lucy said.

"That' s what she said!" Suyeon said, before collapsing into a fit of giggles.

Lucy stared at Suyeon in confusion for a moment, then started to laugh herself. Once she was able to talk again, Suyeon said "Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Besides, we needed something to lift our spirits."

Lucy reached over and hugged Suyeon. "At least we don't have to worry about getting each other pregnant," she whispered in Suyeon's ear, causing her to collapse with giggles again.

* * *

Yoojung sat on her bed, alternating between texting Jun-Seo and looking out the window. She saw a couple having a picnic in the park next door and almost burst into tears. 

"I wish you were here," she texted.

After a couple of minutes, Jun-Seo's reply came back. "I wish I could be, too," it said. Jun-Seo was in Busan on a team-building trip with his company. 

"Has Mr. Kang started drinking yet? That should be good for a laugh," she texted back.

"He's totaly sober, so we don't even get that entertainment," he texted back, followed immediately by "Section leader Min has decided we all have to go on a nature hike this afternoon. I'll text you when we get back. Love you!"

She quickly sent a heart and a kissy-face emoji, hoping they arrived before he had to turn off his phone for the nature hike. She laid back on her pillow, her hand absent-mindedly rubbing her tummy, wondering if there was a baby in there, and if so, what she was going to do. Just then, the bedroom door opened and Lua burst in.

"Come on Yoojung," she said. "You've been pouting over Jun-Seo for long enough. Now you're going to come out with me." She grabbed Yoojung's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Where are we going?" Yoojung asked. "Do I need to change clothes?"

Lua shook her head. "Where we're going is a surprise, but I will tell you you're dressed fine. You might want to grab a light sweater, though."

Once they had both located their sweaters, Lua rushed Yoojung out of the building. "Come on! We don't want to miss our bus!"

"There'll be another bus in 15 minutes," Yopjung said grumpily.

"Yeah," Lua said, "but then we'd have to wait for 15 minutes!"

There were two buses that stopped in front of FanMu's dorm: The one that the girls always took because it went to all their favorite restaurants and stores, and the one that they never took because it didn't go anywhere they ever wanted to go. When Yoojung saw the bus Lua was leading her toward, she protested "But that's the bus we never take! We're getting on the wrong bus!"

Lua shook her head and gripped Yoojung's hand more tightly. "Today, this is the bus we want. Trust me, it'll be fun."

They got on the bus and found seats about halfway back. Lua let Yoojung have the window seat. Yooojung stared eagerly out the window, trying to figure out where Lua was taking her. After about 20 minutes, the bus pulled to a stop in front of a long, low building. Lua grabbed Yoojung's hand and pulled her out of the bus and into the building before Yoojung had time to look around for a sign.

"Where are we?" Yoojung asked.

"You're at an ice skating rink," said a voice behind her.

Yoojung spun around to see that Lucy and Suyeon had walked up behind her. "Ice skating?" she asked incredulously.

Suyeon nodded. "Ice skating. When was the last time you went ice skating?"

"When I was about five," Yoojung admitted.

"That's still better than me - I've never been ice skating before!" Suyeon said.

"Well, let's go get out skates and hit the ice!" Lua said.

They gave the girl at the skate rental counter their shoe sizes and were provided with ice skates. They sat down on a bench by the ice and put on their skates.

"Those arent tight enough," Lucy said, looking down at Suyeon's skates. She knelt in front of Suyeon and tightened the laces on her skates. 

Lucy led the way onto the ice. She grabbed Suyeon's hands and held her steady as she got used to being on skates. For about the first 15 minutes, Lucy skated backwards holding Suyeon's hands while Lua and Yoojung skated around the rink, passing by them every couple of minutes. By the time they stopped skating, about an hour later, Suyeon was far more steady on her skates and Lucy was trying to teach her how to skate backward. Suyeon was able to keep it up for about 10 seconds, then they came to the corner and she fell when she tried to turn. "I think that's about enough," she said quietly as Lucy helped her up. "It's time to move on to phase 2 of our plan."

"Lua! Yoojung!" Lucy called out. "Time to get off the ice and get a snack!"

As it happened, by the time Lucy and Suyeon made it around to the door, Lua and Yoojung were already off the ice and had set them up in a booth with four sodas and an order of cheese fries. Famished after the afternoon's skating, they all started eating at once. Eventually, the fries were almost gone and they started to talk. Suyeon looked over at Lucy, who nodded.

"Okay, guys. I've got something I need to tell you," Suyeon said.

"It's not bad news, is it?" Yoojung asked with a worried look on her face.

"No, its not bad news," Suyeon said. "At least, I don't think it is: Lucy and I are dating!"

Yoojung looked up from the fry she was dragging through the remaining cheese. "We know. We've seen pictures of you and your boyfriends on the web! Will we get to meet them soon?"

Suyeon shook her head. "No, not like that. Lucy and I are dating each other."

Lua and Yoojung sat quietly, waiting for the punchline. When she finally realized there wasn't going to be one, Yoojung said "You're serious!"

Lucy and Suyeon nodded and said "Yes!" simultaneously.

"We've got to stay in the closet," Suyeon said, "so we'll need your help with that."

"Do the other members know?" Lua asked. 

"Doyeon and Elly do," Lucy said.

"You two - you're seriously gay-dating each other?" Yoojung asked.

"Yes!" Suyeon said. "Do you think I'd make something like this up?"

Lua shook her head. "Do you realize how dangerous this is, Suyeon? Do you know what would happen to Weki Meki if this got out?"

"I haven't been thinking about much else for the past three and a half weeks," Suyeon said, with Lucy nodding in agreement.

Lua shook her head and got up. "I need some time to think about this. I'll see you later," she said.

"I'd better go too," Yoojung said, moving to follow Lua.

Lucy started to get up and go after them, but Suyeon put her hand on her arm and stopped her.

"Just give them some time," Suyeon said. "They're just kind of shocked by this. They'll come around."

"I hope you're right," Lucy said.

"So do I," Suyeon thought, "otherwise I've just destroyed Weki Meki."


	13. This is not a test

Lucy walked into the bedroom and saw Yoojung sitting on her bed. "Want to go for a walk?" she asked.

Yoojung looked at Lucy, then rolled over. "No."

Lucy looked around to see that no other members could overhear their conversation, then sat down on the bed next to Yoojung. "Are you mad about something I did?"

Yoojung rolled over and looked up at Lucy. "No," she said quietly. 

"Then what's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"Why does something have to be wrong?" Yoojung said. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Because you haven't been talking to me for the last couple of days," Lucy said, "and I can't remember the last time you turned down a chance to take a walk."

Yoojung sat up and gave Lucy a hug. "Oh, Lucy," she said, "I'm sorry I made you think I was mad at you. I've just got something going on that's worrying me."

"Oh, unnie," Lucy said, returning Yoojung's hug. "I didn't know. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Yoojung shook her head. "No, I don't want to burden you."

"It's not a burden," Lucy said. "You're my unnie!"

Yoojung smiled weakly. "That's really sweet of you," she said. "But it's really nothing you can help with."

"Well, if you're sure," Lucy said quietly. 

"Maybe we can take a walk another time," Yoojung said.

Lucy nodded. 

Rina came into the bedroom as this conversation was ending. "You looking for someone to go for a walk with? I'll go!" she said.

Lucy nodded. "Sure."

Lucy and Rina put their shoes on and went down to the park next to their dorm. They walked around the paths for a while, watching the other people in the park, talking about this and that. Lucy wanted to tell Rina about her and Suyeon, but she just couldn't bring herelf to do it.

After a while, Rina checked the time on her phone. "Suyeon's probably cooking dinner right now. We should head back."

Rina headed into the dorm with Rina trailing behind her. When they got into the apartment, Rina went to join the others at the TV while Lucy went to talk to Suyeon in the kitchen.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Suyeon asked. "You look like you've just heard terrible news!"

Lucy shook her head. "It's not that. I've just failed at everything I tried to do this afternoon. I tried to get Yoojung to go for a walk with me, hoping to cheer her up a little bit, but she wouldn't go. Then I went for a walk with Rina and we talked for over half an hour and I couldn't find a way to tell her about us, even though I wanted to."

Suyeon looked up from the onion she was chopping. "It'll be okay. Just because you weren't able to tell her today doesn't mean we'll never tell her."

"I know," Lucy said. "I just can't believe I couldn't tell her. I feel so stupid."

"Hey!" Suyeon said, putting the onion in a bowl and moving on to chopping carrots. "You're not stupid. You've just never had to do this. None of us have."

Lucy leaned against the counter. "I know. It just makes me feel so. . . indequate."

Suyeon put her knife down and gave Lucy a hug. "You're not indequate," she said. "We'll make it through this."

* * *

Lua woke up at 5, put in her earbuds, and turned on the radio on her phone. The DJ was introducing Min-Jun. He asked Min-Jun how things were and there was silence on the radio. After a couple of seconds of silence, she heard Min-Jun's voice. "Sorry about that," he said, "I forgot to plug in my microphone. But otherwise things are going well."

"Well, you'd better be careful," the DJ said. "You're allowed ten seconds of dead air over the course of a career, and you just used two of yours."

Lua cringed, hoping this mistake wouldn't count against Min-Jun too badly. In between songs, the weather, and the traffic reports, the DJs bantered with the Min-Jun and each other. Lua thought it was entertaining - she was entertained, at any rate. She lay there listening in silence until she heard Sei get up. She followed Sei into the kitchen and helped her put on water for tea.

"How's Min-Jun doing on the morning show?" Sei asked. 

"Pretty good," Lua said. "He had a brief problem at the beginning where he forgot to plug in his microphone, but otherwise he's been doing great."

"Will that one foul-up be enough to keep him from getting the job?" Sei asked.

Lua shrugged. "I don't think so, but who knows what his supervisors will say. I'll talk to him later after he gets off the air and see what he thinks about it."

By this time the water had come to a boil. Sei and Lua made their tea, then sat looking out the window as they drank it. Sei finished her tea first and said "I'm going out for a run. Do you want to come?"

Lua shook her head. 'I'm going to stay here and listen to the radio. I want to hear all of Min-Jun's first day on the morning shift."

Sei nodded. "Have fun. I'll be back soon."

Soon after Sei had left, Rina came stumbling in, rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing up already?" she asked.

"I've been up since 5," Lua said. "Today is Min-Jun's first day on the morning shift."

"Well, good luck to him," Rina said, "I'm going to go get a shower, see if I can wake up."

"How did Joon-Ho's game go last night?" Lua asked.

"They won, four to one, and Joon-Ho scored two of those points!" Rina exclaimed, her eyes glowing with excitement. "I wish I could have called to congratulate him last night, but his coach still has him on no phone."

"Ah, that sucks," Lua said. "Just think of how much you'll get to congratulate him when you finally do get to see him."

Rina laughed. "If I don't see him soon, I'm going to go crazy, you know what I mean?"

Lua laughed. "I wish the Ki-Lings could have heard that. For some reason they've got the idea of you as an ice queen."

"As if!" Rina exclaimed. "Well, the shower is calling my name. Enjoy your radio show."

* * *

On their way to their third appearance of the day, Sei cornered Suyeon in the back of the van. "So," she asked, "how are things going with you and Hyun-Woo?" 

Suyeon shrugged. "They're going pretty well, he's a great guy, but I don't see it going anywhere serious." She wished she could tell Sei about the reason why it wasn't going anywhere serious, but until she was sure that Hyun-Woo was ready to come out to his family, she couldn't do that. It would have to be soon, though - she couldn't hold Sei off much longer.

"What? Why not?" Sei exclaimed.

Suyeon shrugged. "Just some things he's said that make me think I'm not what he's looking for."

"Not what he's looking for!" Sei exclaimed, shocked. "Then he doesn't know what he wants! We've got to change his mind. Want me to have Do-Hyun talk some sense into him?"

Suyeon shook her head. "No - I don't think that's a good idea. If we're meant to be, it'll happen. Otherwise, it won't, you know?"

Sei leaned back in the seat. "I think you're making a mistake, Suyeon. Hyun-Woo is a great guy. You've got to be ready to fight for him."

"No," Suyeon said, leaning back and leaning toward Sei so they could keep their conversation private. "I'm not going to fight to hold onto him if he wants to go - I want to be with someone who wants to be with me."

"I can understand that," Sei said, "but still. . ."

"I've got it under control," Suyeon said. "Thanks for worrying about me, though."

Sei reached over and gave Suyeon a hug. "You're my unnie," she said. "If I don't take care of you, who will?"

Suyeon laughed. "I think it's supposed to go the other way 'round."

"Not in this case," Sei said, shaking her head. "No offense, Suyeon, but you really don't know how to deal with guys."

"If you only knew," Suyeon thought, laughing quietly to herself.

Fortunately, Suyeon was spared the rest of this conversation as the van stopped them and Manager-Nim started leading them to their appearance.

* * *

Suyeon pulled out her phone and looked at it. She'd found an isolated bench in the park where she could call Hyun-Woo and have some privacy.

"Sei's getting curious," she said. "Whether you're ready to come out or not, we need to break up soon."

"I know," Hyun-Woo said. "My mom's been dropping all kinds of hints about how she hasn't met you yet."

"So what do we do?" she asked. "I don't want to out you if you're not ready."

"Just give me a couple more days," he said. "I'm having dinner with my parents Thursday night. I'll tell them then and you call tell Sei about you and Lucy."

Suyeon nodded, then realized he couldn't see her. "That sounds good," she said. "If you change your mind between now and then, just text me and we'll come up with an alternate plan."

"Won't need to do that," he said. "I probably should have come out to my family years ago."

"Do you have any idea how your parents are going to take it?" she aked.

He was silent for a long moment. "None at all," he finally said. "They seem to be for LGBT rights in the abstract, but I don't know if they'd feel differently when it's their kid, you know?"

"I can imagine," Suyeon said. "I haven't even thought about coming out to my parents yet - my members are a much bigger part of my life right now, so I've got to deal with them first."

"How have your members been reacting?" he asked.

"Pretty good," she responded after some thought. "Some of them were okay with it, and the rest I think will be okay with it once they've had some time to get used to the idea. I've just got Sei and two other members to go."

"You should probably hurry and tell those others," he said, "because the way Sei has latched onto this idea that you and I are destined to be together forever, telling her could turn into something loud."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," Suyeon said. "Well, we've both got a lot to get done before Thursday, so I'll talk to you later."

* * *

On her way into the dorm, Suyeon looked in the laundry room and saw that Rina was in there. She decided she'd never have a better time, so she went in to talk to her.

"Rina, remember the other week when Lucy and I had you convinced that Doyeon was gay?" she asked.

Rina scowled. "Yes. And you let me get into all kinds of trouble with Doyeon over it. Why?"

"Well," Suyeon said, "I've got something to tell you and. . ." She looked around to be sure they were alone in the laundry room. "I need you to keep this quiet."

Rina leaned closer to Suyeon. "Okay. What's up?"

Suyeon looked around again, leaned closer to Rina and said "Lucy and I have been dating since our dating ban lifting celebration."

Rina rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha. Very funny, Suyeon. You can't catch me twice with the same trick. I know you and Lucy have boyfriends now."

"Rina, I'm serious." Suyeon leaned closer. "Lucy is my girlfriend."

"Oh really," Rina said. "You really expect me to believe that not only are you gay, but so is Lucy, and you're dating her?"

"Yes! Exactly that!" Suyeon said.

Rina narrowed her eyes and looked at Suyeon. "Is this some kind of a test? To see if I'm homophobic or not? Because you and Lucy taught me a lot about that and I don't want to disappoint the Ki-Lings."

"This is not a test," Suyeon said. "This is an actual lesbian relationship happening right here in Weki Meki. Now that I've told you, all the members know except Yoojung and Sei, and I need to you stay quiet about this in front of them until I have a chance to tell them."

Rina's jaw dropped. "Wait a second. You're serious? You're seriously dating Lucy?"

"Yes!" Suyeon said. "That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"Oh my God!" Rina jumped up and down in excitement. "This is awesome!"

"But we have to keep this quiet," Suyeon said. "Except for our members, Hyun-Woo, and Min-Kyu, we're in the closet and we have to stay that way. International Ki-Lings might understand, but there's no way Korean agency executives would."

Rina nodded. "I can keep it quiet."

"Good," Suyeon said. "Do you have any questions? Anything you'd like me to tell you?"

Rina shook her head, but asked "Just. . . you and Lucy are happy?"

Suyeon nodded. "We are. We really are."

"Then that's all I need to know," Rina said with a smile. "I'm happy for you, Suyeon. I really am."


	14. A negative reaction

Suyeon and Lucy were sitting in the kitchen eating ice cream when Doyeon came bouncing in.

"Well," Suyeon said, "something must be going extraordinarily right for you. I'm guessing you got one of the parts you auditioned for?"

Doyeon nodded vigorously. "I got the role as the younger princess in Kingdom Romance!"

"Really?" Lucy exclaimed. "A historical? That's awesome!"

Doyeon nodded. "I know! I was wanting a role that would let me show a different side as an actress, and this is it! Plus, there's something extra awesome about this production?"

"It's filming when we're between promotions?" Suyeon guessed.

"Okay, there are two extra awesome things," Doyeon said. "The filming all takes place between our promotions, and Min-soo's working on this production!"

"Oh, that'll be great!" Lucy said. "You'll get to see him every day!"

Doyeon leaned on the table so that she was close to Lucy and Suyeon. "So," she said, switching to a quieter voice, "have you told Yoojung and Sei about you-know-what yet?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Not yet, but I should be able to tell Sei tonight, and I guess I can tell Yoojung at the same time," she said.

Doyeon nodded. "That'll be good - I'm about to burst with having to keep quiet about this!"

"You still can't tell people outside the group," Lucy said.

"I know," Doyeon said, reaching out and stroking Lucy's hair. "But I'm looking forward to you and Suyeon just getting to be yourselves around us. I don't like having secrets in Weki Meki."

"Me either," Suyeon said, "but this time I think it was necessary."

Doyeon nodded. "I can understand that, but I'll still be glad when this is over."

Just then Yoojung came into the apartment. "Hi everybody," she said as she dashed through the kitchen on the way to her bedroom.

"What's Yoojung in such a hurry about?" Doyeon asked.

"I don't know," Suyeon said, "but I'm going to go talk to her, make sure nothing's wrong."

Suyeon walked into the bedroom to find Yoojung digging something out from the bottom of her locker.

"Is everything okay?" Suyeon asked.

"That's what I'm about to go find out," Yoojung said, brandishing a pregnancy test before slipping it into her pocket and rushing out of the room.

Suyeon went back to the kitchen to find Lucy finishing her ice cream. "Doyeon got a call from Min-soo and she left," Lucy said. "They're going to go celebrate her new role."

"That's good," Suyeon said. "Would you be willing to take a walk for a little while so I can have some time alone with Yoojung?"

"You're going to? You know..." Lucy asked.

Suyeon nodded. "Hopefully, but I think it will be easier to tell her if I've got her by myself."

"Yeah, sure," Lucy said, standing up and putting her bowl in the sink. "I'll go to the park for a little while, do some people-watching. You'll call when it's safe for me to come home?"

Suyeon nodded. 

Lucy kissed Suyeon on the cheek, then gathered up her purse and left the apartment. "You'll do great!" she whispered as she closed the door.

Suyeon sat in the kitchen waiting for Yoojung to come out of the bathroom. After about five minutes, Yoojung finally came out, a big smile on her face.

'So. . . I'm guessing you've got a result," Suyeon said.

"I'm not pregnant!" Yoojung squealed as she held the pregnancy test out to show it to Suyeon.

Suyeon's brow furrowed. "That's great," she said, "but. . . why didn't you have your period?"

Yoojung wrapped the pregnancy test in a paper towel and jammed it down into the trash. "Who knows?" she said airily. "Could be diet, stress, lack of sleep - any number of things. I'll bring it up with Dr. Lee at our next checkup."

"I'm really happy for you," Yoojung said, "and I'm sure this is a load of your mind-"

"You've got no idea,' Yoojung interrupted.

"Oh, I think I do," Suyeon said. "Now that you don't have to worry about this, I've got something I need to tell you."

"You're not going to ruin my good mood, Ji Suyeon. It doesn't matter what you tell me, I'm in too good of a mood for anything to bring me down."

"That's good to hear," Suyeon said, "because I need to tell you that I'm dating Lucy."

Yoojung came to a sudden stop. Then her eyes got huge and she asked "You're what?"

"I'm dating Lucy," Suyeon said calmly.

"Since when?" Yoojung asked, her face showing her suspicion.

"Since the night of our dating ban lifting celebration," Suyeon said. "You did notice that neither Lucy nor I brought a boyfriend to that event."

"But," Yoojung protested, "since then you've been dating Hyun-woo and Lucy's been dating Min-kyu. Multiple dates! There have been pictures online!"

"Just friends doing each other favors," Suyeon said.

"So. . . you and Lucy are gay?" Yoojung asked.

"I figured that was obvious, once I told you we were dating," Suyeon said.

Yoojung put her hands on her hips and stared up at Suyeon. "I'm not Rina, you know. You're not going to fool me with this."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "If you don't believe me, why don't you call Lucy and ask her?"

"I might just do that," Yoojung said. "Where'd Lucy go, anyway?"

"To the park," Suyeon said. "I figured you'd pull some sort of a freakout like this, and I figured it would be easier to talk you down if it was just the two of us here."

"Fine," Yoojung said, "I'll call Lucy and we'll put an end to this." Yoojung pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Lucy. "Lucy! I've got a question for you," she said. "Suyeon's here and she's telling me the most ridiculous thing. . . you're what? . . . really? . . . no way. . . really? . . . oh, okay. Thanks. See you when you get back."

"Now do you believe me?" Suyeon asked.

Yoojung slipped her phone back into her pocket. "I guess so. . . I'm just. . . confused."

"What's confusing about it? She likes me, I like her, so we're dating," Suyeon said.

"I just. . . we can't tell the Ki-Lings, can we?" Yoojung asked.

Suyeon shook her head. "No, we can't. A lot of the international Ki-Lings would be cool with it, but probably not so many of the Korean Ki-Lings. And the ahjummas and ahjussis at FanMu definitely wouldn't be okay with it."

"Okay," Yoojung said, pacing the length of the kitchen, "so you've got to stay in the closet, but we need to tell the other members, and. . . what do you need us to do to help you stay in the closet?"

"Just don't fix us up on any blind dates," Suyeon said. "We're going to go with the line that Lucy and I are too busy to date right now - me as Weki Meki's leader, her with having to do school on top of Weki Meki. And we've told all the other members, except Sei."

"Why except Sei?" Joojung asked, coming to a sudden stop and turning to face Suyeon.

"Do you remember who Hyun-woo's brother is?" Suyeon asked.

"Oh, yeah," Yoojung said. "So what are you going to do about that?" 

Suyeon looked at the clock over the sink. "Hyun-woo is coming out of the closet to his family right about now. As soon as I get the call that he's done that, then I can tell Sei about me and Lucy."

Yoojung started pacing again. "This is all just so complicated," she said.

"What's complicated about it?" Suyeon asked, grabbing Yoojung and folding her into a hug. "Everything's still the same, except that now Lucy and I don't have to keep a secret from our members."

Yoojung hugged Suyeon back. "I don't want you to think I'm not happy about this. I'm just shocked. . . stunned. . . surprised. . . You know? But I'm glad you and Lucy are happy together."

"Thank you," Suyeon said, "and I'm glad you passed your test today!" She let go of Suyeon.

"So. . . all the members except Sei?" Yoojung asked.

Suyeon nodded.

"Okay, because I need to talk to someone about this before I burst," Yoojung said. 

* * *

Weki Meki were sitting down at their kitchen table eating dinner. Suddenly Suyeon's phone rang and she jumped out of her seat. "Be right back," she said. "I've got to take this."

"I thought the rule was no phones during dinner," Sei said.

"It usually is," Suyeon agreed, "but I need to take this call. I'll be right back." She walked off into the bedroom, answering her phone as she went.

A few minutes later, Suyeon came back. "Sorry about that," she said. "I'd been waiting for that call from Hyun-woo all day."

"Is everything okay with him?" Lucy asked.

Suyeon nodded. "There were some misunderstandings at first, but he thinks he's gotten everything straightened out."

"Everything what?" Sei asked.

Suyeon took a deep breath, looked at Sei and said "Hyun-woo and I haven't really been dating each other. Actually, I've secretly been dating Lucy."

Sei's eyebrows slammed down as her face darkened with anger. "So, what, you're just playing to Hyun-woo's heart? Deceiving him so that you can stay in the closet? And really - Lucy? You should be ashamed - she's our maknae!"

"I'm old enough to know what I want!" Lucy shouted. "You didn't think I was too young when you were putting makeup on me so I could go out with Min-kyu!"

"And Hyun-woo is also gay," Suyeon said calmly. "I was helping him stay in the closet just as much as he was helping me. But now he's come out of the closet to his family, so I can be out of the closet to all my members."

A look of realization came over Sei's face. She looked around the table. "All of you knew about this? For how long?"

"A few days," Doyeon and Lua said simultaneously.

"Just since this afternoon," Yoojung said.

"So you could tell the rest of the members but you couldn't tell me?" Sei asked. "That's messed up!"

"I couldn't tell you until Hyun-woo came out to his family," Suyeon said, "because I knew you'd freak out and accuse me of mistreating him, just like you did."

Sei was quiet for a moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was quieter and calmer. "I don't know what to do with this, Suyeon," she said. "I thought I knew you, but now I see I didn't know you at all. And especially to find out that you took advantage of Lucy like this-"

"No one took advantage of me!" Lucy interrupted. "I'm the one who asked Suyeon to date me! Because it's what I want! Because I really like her!"

"I don't know how to deal with this," Sei said, getting up from the table. "I'm going for a walk," she said, and left the apartment.

"Sei!" Lucy called out. She started to get up to go after Sei, but Suyeon's hand on her arm held her back.

"Leave her alone," Suyeon said. "She needs some time to process this. Remember, Sei had this future built up in her head where she marries Do-Hyun and I marry Hyun-woo and then she and I are sisters, and now that's never going to happen."

"I bet she's calling Do-hyun right now," Lucy said.

"That's why we couldn't tell her until Hyun-woo came out," Suyeon said.

'I don't know, guys," Elly said, "I've never seen Sei that angry. There's no telling what she might do."

"So what do you want me to do?" Suyeon asked. "I can't hold her down and force her not to be angry."

"I'm going to give her a call and invite her out for coffee so we can talk this over," Doyeon said, getting up to get her phone.

"Thanks Doyeon," Suyeon called out.

"I just can't believe Sei reacted like that," Lucy said. 


	15. Conclusion

Suyeon and Lucy were sitting at the kitchen table, watching the front door, when Sei and Doyeon came in.

"Hey guys," Sei said, as she took off her shoes and put her purse on the bench by the door. She looked down refusing to meet their eyes.

"Hi Sei," Suyeon said.

"Hey," Lucy added.

Sei came and stood in front of Suyeon and bowed. "I'm sorry about how I acted at dinner tonight. I wasn't expecting that and I reacted poorly."

"We really need to talk," Suyeon said. She gestured to the chair across from her and Sei sat down. Doyeon went into the kitchen and started preparing them a pot of tea.

"So. . . I imagine you have questions," Suyeon said. "Ask away."

Sei shook her head. "I don't have any questions."

Suyeon sat quietly, waiting.

"Well," Sei said, "maybe a few questions. How do you know this is what you want?"

"How do you know Do-Hyun is what you want?"

"Well, have you seen Do-Hyun? He's a total hunk! Plus he's kind to me, and generous, and great in bed. . ." Sei trailed off.

"Well," Suyeon responded, "have you seen Lucy? She's a total fox! Plus she's kind to me, and generous-"

"And great in bed?" Lucy piped up.

"You know you are," Suyeon said, reaching out and squeezing Lucy's hand. 

"You're getting distracted," Doyeon said as she put a pot of tea and three mugs on the table in front of them, before she left to join the others in the common room.

"Well, I think you get the idea," Suyeon said. "Just like you saw Do-Hyun and said 'he looks like someone I'd like to be with,' and then you got to know him and you said 'he is definitely someone I could be with,' that's how I feel about Lucy."

"Why didn't you just tell me all this when I first fixed you up with Hyun-woo?" Sei asked. She picked up the teapot and started pouring for all of them while waiting for Suyeon to answer.

"For one thing, we'd only been together for two days," Suyeon said, "and since telling you about us would have also meant coming out to the group at the same time, I thought that was too much pressure for a new relationship to take. Besides, if you recall, you told Hyun-woo I'd go out with him before asking me if I wanted to go out with him."

Sei pouted. "I meant well. I just felt so bad for you being all alone on our dating ban celebration, you just seemed so pitiful," Sei said.

"Maybe I was, at that particular moment," Suyeon said, "but if you could have seen me an hour after I left the dating ban celebration, I was on the couch in the common room, happily making out with Lucy while we ate ice cream and drank soju."

"Are we going to have to see you and Lucy kissing and hanging all over each other?" Sei asked.

Lucy started to say something, but Suyeon cut her off. "And how many times have you kissed Do-Hyun where I had to see it? We're not going to act like we're doing anything to be ashamed of, if that's what you're asking."

"Not, it's not that, it's just. . ." Sei trailed off as Suyeon stared at her, one eyebrow raised. "Okay, I see what you're saying," Sei said. After taking a sip of tea, she asked "So all the times I asked you for sex advice?"

"I was finding things on the internet," Suyeon said. "While I now know far more than any lesbian probably should about how to have sex with a man, you might want to start going to one of your other unnies with your sexual questions." She smiled warmly.

"Or maybe you could just show me the websites you were going to," Sei said with a grin.

"Sure, I can do that," Suyeon said. "But serious, about the whole displays of affection, we're going to do that. First of all, because we're both here, so we can, and why wouldn't we? But secondly, and more importantly, because this is the only place we can. Everywhere else, around anyone else, we have to just be 'gals being pals.' It's not easy." 

"I'd never thought of it that way," Sei said.

"We're only out to our members, and to Hyun-woo and Min-kyu," Lucy said. "That's it, out of the entire world."

Sei blinked away tears. "I'd never thought of it that way. That's so sad!"

"I wasn't trying to make you sad," Suyeon said. "I was just trying to get you to think that we're a couple, just like you and Do-hyun, or any other member and her boyfriend, but we've just got these other things working against us."

Sei nodded. 

"So are we okay?" Lucy asked.

Sei nodded.

'Okay," Suyeon said. "Well, we'd better get ready for bed - big day of promotions tomorrow!"


End file.
